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The scientists managed to transport the man back in time, stimulating parts of his brain. 22 year old patient reported seeing Scenes of visiting a pizzeria with his family as well as a train station in his hometown, although he actually sat in medical office.
Researchers hope discovery can help them better. understand the areas of the brain used to obtain information about places.
Hallucinations appeared after Pierre Megevan from the institute Feinstein in New York implanted electrodes into the brain of a young person. With their help, the scientist hoped to establish the cause the origin of epilepsy from which the subject suffered. For their installations in the patient’s skull tiny holes were drilled. 5 cm electrodes were connected to specific points brain.
According to a report by research team member Helen Thomson, published in New Scientist, Dr. Megevan first checked functional brain MRI of a volunteer while he was looking at images of various objects and scenes and then captured activity with implanted electrodes when the patient observed the same set of pictures.
Scientists found that when a patient looked at photographs of places, a section of the cortex around the hippocampus was activated.
“There are small areas in the brain tissue that seem to be respond to familiar homes and places more than any other object, “said Asheh Mehta, a member of the research team.
Implanted electrodes were used to stimulate the brain in the area that triggered a series of visual hallucinations. The young man initially said that he sees familiar train station and later part of his house but with in this he did not feel the smell and sounds that were associated with him these places.
When re-stimulating the same areas of the brain, the patient saw the same hallucinations. And when the researchers stimulated with electrodes a slightly different area located in the lower temporal gyrus, the volunteer said the images suddenly began to distort.
“Perhaps a certain group of neurons encodes a memory of a person wearing an apron, another group encodes a stove or driveway part, and when we stimulate them at the same time, it leads to the appearance of memories of the place where all these objects were seen, ” – said Dr. Mehta.
Dr. Mehta says experiments over time can help people who suffer from diseases like autism or Alzheimer’s disease.
The study continues the work of scientists from Stanford University, which two years ago discovered that electrodes, placed in a specific area of the brain can affect the ability of a person to process faces, notes Mail Online.
Time
