In the brain, working memory isn't stored in the electric fields of individual neurons. Instead, the information is stored in electric fields generated by many neurons, all working together. From MIT:
Whenever neuroscientists have looked at how brains represent information in working memory, they’ve found that from one trial to the next, even when repeating the same task, the participation and activity of individual cells varies (a phenomenon called “representational drift”). In a new study in NeuroImage, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT and the University of London found that regardless of which specific neurons were involved, the overall electric field that was generated, provided a stable and consistent signal of the information the animals were tasked to remember.
One interesting thing about this is that it suggests the possibility of interacting directly with material in working memory using electric fields. Eventually, this may lead to devices that control thoughts or other brain activity. The upside might be brain computer interfaces (BCIs) that allow people to operate prosthetics with their minds. The downside might be the literal thought police. Personally, I favor developing brain interface technology despite the risk that it could someday be misused.
The military is a driving force behind BCI research. The Office of Naval Research is listed as providing support for the study described above. There are many ways to weaponize tech like this. And there seem to be electric weapons already in use among spies. The mystery device that caused Havana Syndrome impacted relatively large areas. In the future, there will probably be devices tuned to manipulate a single person's brain from a distance. Fortunately, we're not there yet. Maybe in 5 years.
What I'd really like to see is a device that stops cluster headaches at the level of brain activity. Transcranial magnetic stimulation shows some promise here, but the science still seems crude, and devices are impossible to get. I've thought about building one myself. What stopped me was the idea of sending a magnetic pulse through my brain with a homemade device. Cluster headaches are bad enough to make an idea like that appealing. I'm just not confident enough in the underlying science to accept the risks.
There are consumer and hobbyist grade BCIs available. Not for stimulation, just sensing. Here, too, the science seems crude. Even devices that cost thousands of dollars produce unimpressive results. The coolest player in this space is Open BCI. They do open source everything and have a thriving cooperative research community. But they're a long ways from a headset that can read your thoughts.
I would totally buy a headset that could read my thoughts. Seeing my mind externalized on a computer screen would be cool. Of course, I'd try to use the capability to improve my writing process. If I could sit around simply imagining things while the computer turned those things into stories, that would be great. Sadly, we're not there yet. Maybe in 5 years.
As advanced as our understanding of the brain has become, much more remains a mystery. Basic things, like where consciousness comes from, are unknown. Now we have reason to believe that working memories are stored in electric fields. This progress is small, but important.
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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