How to use fMRI to find where memories are processed in the brain
Grant round winners 2008
There is currently a lot of interest worldwide
into how to use brain scans to locate memory
function in the brain, prior to surgery
for temporal lobe epilepsy. Functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) has been particularly
investigated. In memory fMRI testing, the
person lies in the MRI scanner while a doctor
asks them to remember things, such as pictures,
faces, words, or a particular route through
streets near their home. The scanner measures
blood flow and oxygen consumption in the
brain to see which parts are working during
each question.
Three different groups of researchers,
from Philadelphia (USA), Bielefeld (Germany)
and Professor Mark Richardson's group
at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College
London, have carried out preliminary studies
on memory fMRI. However each group used
different procedures, with different memory
tests, and each produced slightly different
results. So which method is the most reliable?
Epilepsy Research UK has awarded Professor
Richardson £85,681.77 over
14 months to compare and contrast the three
different procedures. The study will include
18 people with temporal lobe epilepsy. Each
person will be tested with all three protocols
on the same day, and will be retested, again
with all three procedures, 2 months and
then 4 months later.
This will show how reliable each procedure
is (for example, whether they can detect
the same features in the same person after
a two-month gap; or whether two different
protocols can identify the same features
in the same person). This study, called
Memory fMRI as a clinical tool: establishing
reliability, is the first step towards
a formal trial of the best method to evaluate
it for routine use in hospitals.
