New neuroimaging methods for the study of short-term memory

短时记忆(STM)为我们的思想提供了便签簿，除了最简单的精神操作外，它是所有人都需要的。这个研究项目将研究STM的图像和声音，调查大脑到底编码什么，它是如何编码的，以及是什么让一些人拥有比其他人更好的记忆力。我们将通过10项实验研究来测试志愿者分辨细微差别的能力，并在向他们展示图像或声音并要求他们记住它们的时候使用磁共振成像(MRI)大脑扫描仪。重要的是，我们将开发三种新的脑成像方法。所有这些都是基于这样一种想法，即在获得数据时，对来自扫描仪的数据进行“实时”分析。使用大型计算机，我们将第一次能够快速评估大脑活动的模式，并利用这一点来适应实验的其余部分。一个类比是对话--通常情况下，要了解某人的一些情况，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率，就像传统的大脑成像中所使用的那样。在五年内，该计划的目标是将大脑活动的精细时间信息结合起来，这些信息来自大脑表面的电信号、来自MRI大脑扫描仪的数据，以及实时自适应成像的灵敏度。这将帮助我们了解短期记忆，以及如何帮助一些人改善他们的短期记忆。这些技术的发展在未来还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.