New neuroimaging methods for the study of short-term memory

短期记忆（STM）为我们的思想提供了暂存器，除了最简单的心理操作之外，它是所有心理操作所必需的。这个研究项目将调查STM的图像和声音，调查大脑到底编码什么，它是如何做的，是什么让一些人比其他人有更好的记忆力。我们将在10项实验研究中进行这一研究，测试志愿者做出细微区分的能力，并在向他们展示图像或声音并要求他们记住它们的同时使用磁共振成像（MRI）大脑扫描仪。重要的是，我们将开发三种新的大脑成像方法。这些都是基于“真实的时间”分析扫描仪数据的想法，因为它是采集的。使用大型计算机，我们将首次能够快速评估大脑活动的模式，并使用它来调整实验的其余部分。一个类比是一个对话-通常，要了解某人的一些事情，倾听他们的答案并相应地调整你的问题比只使用一组预定义的问题更有效，就像传统的大脑成像一样。在五年内，该计划的目标是将来自大脑表面电信号的大脑活动的精细时间信息，来自MRI大脑扫描仪的数据以及实时自适应成像的灵敏度结合起来。这将帮助我们了解短期记忆，以及如何帮助一些人提高他们的记忆。这些技术的发展在未来将有大量的其他应用。

Short-term memory (STM) provides the scratchpad for our thoughts, and is required for all but the simplest of mental operations. This research program will investigate STM for images and sounds, investigating what exactly the brain encodes, how it does it, and what makes some people have a better memory than others. We will do this across ten experimental studies by testing the ability of volunteers to make fine distinctions, and by using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scanner while they are shown images or sounds and are asked to remember them. Importantly, we will develop three new brain imaging methods. These are all based around the idea of analyzing the data from the scanner in "real time", as it is acquired. Using a large computer, for the first time we will be able to rapidly assess patterns of brain activity, and use this to adapt the rest of the experiment. An analogy is a conversation - typically, to learn something about someone it is more efficient to listen to their answers and adapt your questions accordingly than it is to just use a set of pre-defined questions, as is used in conventional brain imaging. Within five years, the program aims to marry fine temporal information on brain activity from the electrical signals at the surface of the brain, data from the MRI brain scanner, and the sensitivity of real-time adaptive imaging. This will help us learn about short-term memory, and how to help some people improve theirs. The technical developments will have an enormous number of other applications in future.