Study set for brain stimulation device to help restore memory

By Eric Niiler October 27 at 11:46 AM

Has our reliance on iPhones and other instant-info devices harmed our memories? Michael Kahana, a University of Pennsylvania psychology professor who studies memory, says maybe: We dont know what the long-lasting impact of this technology will be on our brains and our ability to recall. Kahana, 45, who has spent the past 20 years looking at how the brain creates memories, is leading an ambitious four-year Pentagon project to build a prosthetic memory device that can be implanted into human brains to help veterans with traumatic brain injuries. He spoke by telephone with The Post about what we can do to preserve or improve memory.

Do you play any games or have any tricks to keep your own memory working?

Practicing the use of your memory is helpful. The other thing which I find helpful is sleep, which I dont get enough of. As a general principle, skills that one continues to practice are skills that one will maintain in the face of age-related changes in cognition. [As for all those brain games available], I am not aware of any convincing data that mental exercises have a more general effect other than maintaining the skills for those exercises. I think the jury is out on that. If you practice doing crossword puzzles, you will preserve your ability to do crossword puzzles. If you practice any other cognitive skill, you will get better at that as well.

Do you have trouble remembering things?

I used to have a legendary memory for scientific articles. I could recall the authors, the journal and publication year of almost any article I had read. That capability, which was unusual for most people, I no longer have. Its much blurrier now. Like all of us, its harder for me now to remember proper names. I used to teach a class of 100 students and learn almost all of their names. Now I find it too difficult even with a class of 20.

With all of the multi-tasking among devices now, do you notice a shorter attention span among your students today compared to previous generations?

I have clearly seen reliance on technology rather than memory. They immediately turn to a device to answer the question. It can be as quotidian as looking up a phone number or a name instead of trying to recall it. We dont know what the long-lasting impact of this technology will be on our brains and our ability to recall. The need to rely on memory has been so dramatically changed by the instant accessibility of a librarys worth of information on your iPhone. Its hard to know how it will affect their lives and their use of their internal memory systems.

You have four young kids. Any memory or learning lessons for them?

The principle of Do it again, do it again and do it again. Practice makes perfect is a principle that has stood the test of time. It is the ultimate driver of skill. As a memory scientist, I will add two twists: One is doing it yourself rather than watching someone demonstrate. You learn by doing. The other is distributed practice. You learn best when practice is spaced out over time. Even when knowledge is not firmly cemented, its important to not rely on crutches. For my children I try to instill a love of learning, which is something all parents should strive to do with their children.

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Study set for brain stimulation device to help restore memory