The research of Prof. Yitzhak Farid and a series of other studies will be revealed at a unique international conference on human memory, which will be held at the National Academy of Sciences in Jerusalem on Monday, February 8, with the participation of the Vice President of Google Global, researchers and leading artists from Israel and the world
New research reveals a technology they have developed Prof. Yitzhak Fried and his colleagues and in which the activity of individual cells in the brain can be recorded during memory encoding and during the time when the memories rise from the past to the threshold of recognition. Many of these recordings are made in an area vital to memory - the hippocampus, which is located in the temporal (temporal) lobe and is called this because of its resemblance to a seahorse. Prof. Fried, who will present his research at the conference on human memory at the Academy of Sciences, reveals that in the context of brain surgery for the treatment of diseases such as severe epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, or the treatment of brain tumors, it is sometimes possible to record brain activity while awake, especially in surgeries that require brain function mapping while awake. or in patients who underwent intracerebral electrode implantation to locate an epileptic focus for therapeutic treatment.
A series of studies shows that one of the interesting properties of certain cells in this area is the coding of concepts such as the identity of a certain person or a certain place, regardless of the different physical forms that characterize the presentation of the concept. For example, a cell can respond to the image of Einstein even if it is presented in black and white, in color, in a caricature or even if his name is read out loud. These cells also respond to new associations that are formed with the initial concept as shown by a recent study published in 2015. While raising the concept in the imagination while the memory floats from the depths of the past to the stage of consciousness, these cells awaken and respond with increased activity. For example, a cell that responded to an episode of The Simpsons while watching it in the past will start to work before the subject reports the memory of the episode that comes to mind. In recent years, Prof. Fried has been developing an implant that will help memory. In the latest study of his work, it was found that electrical stimulation in a certain area, which is a gateway into the hippocampus area, can help the spatial memory activity of orientation in the environment. Prof. Yitzhak Farid is a neurosurgeon working at the Tel Aviv Medical Center as the director of the functional neurosurgery unit as well as at the UCLA Medical Center. in Los Angeles.
What does the future hold for human memory when all cultural and business information and most personal memory are quickly moving to the Internet? What will happen to him when intelligent androids with the ability to learn are expected to work in factories and service centers, receive patients in clinics and help the elderly to get around and take medication on time? What will be the effect of technological developments on personal and social memory and on our culture? This topic will be raised in the session in which the Vice President of Google will take part Prof. Yossi Matias and member of the French Academy Prof. Pierre Nora, as part of an international conference on the topic of memory that will be held at the Israeli Academy of Sciences in Jerusalem (Program and Invitation Office).
The multidisciplinary conference, which combines scientists and doctors, thinkers and artists, will be held under the initiative The Israeli National Academy of Sciences In the title "Memory - past and future: remembering, forgetting and imagination in the individual and in society" on Monday, February 8 2016 From 09:00 at the Academy of Sciences, 43 Jabotinsky Street in Jerusalem.
The fear of losing personal memory and the effect of innovative technology on the memory of its users crosses cultures. Memory has a huge personal, social, economic and technological meaning. Scientists, technologists and thinkers usually tend to deal with a subject from one professional aspect: medicine, psychology, computing and robotics, or the memory of groups, communities, nations and religions and the effect of memory on the behavior of society and the individual. The Israeli National Academy of Sciences, which gathers under one roof researchers and leading thinkers in both the natural sciences and the humanities, decided to bring together leading experts from Israel and around the world and share with the public what is happening on the front lines of knowledge on the subject of memory from different perspectives in one concentrated day. The event will deal with the strands of memory in a wide and sometimes surprising arc of observations: memory in the brain, memory in society, memory in art, memory on the web and the future of human memory in future generations. As mentioned, among the thinkers and artists who will take part in a gathering of one of the world's top thinkers in the field of culture and history, Prof. Pierre Nora, The member of the French Academy, who will participate in the discussions and give a special lecture the next day, Tuesday, February 9, 2016, on the topic "Memory - freedom from tyranny".
President of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Nili Cohen, stated that the international scientific gathering is part of a close, fruitful and thriving collaboration between Israeli researchers and scientists and between researchers and scientists from around the world on the topic of memory in science. According to her, there is great importance in the cultivation, deepening and expansion of research in the field. Science is a bridging international language, and it is based on cooperation between researchers. The Academy considers the existence of connections between scientific communities and between science and society and art, as well as the development and nurturing of Israel's scientific foreign relations, among the most important of its duties.
