X-Message-Number: 3814
From: "Joseph J. Strout" <>
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: research proposal: cryonics and STM
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 07:55:43 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <>

There is evidence that short-term memory (STM) requires brain activity 
for its maintenance.  Moreover, retrograde amnesia (i.e., the loss of 
memory for events shortly preceeding trauma to the brain) is often 
explained as the failure of consolidation of transient, recent memories 
into more permanent long-term memory storage.  The two phenomena are 
sometimes seen as connected (though I don't necessarily buy this 
assertion myself).  Anyway, the suggestion is that recent memories are 
encoded in brain activity, and the disruption of this activity results in 
retrograde amnesia (reference below).

If this is true, then we expect cryonics to have similar effects.  We 
could do some very interesting memory-consolidation experiments today 
using the washout techniques (e.g. of Mike Darwin).  These experiments 
would make valuable contributions to cognitive neuroscience, as well as 
help prepare future cryonics patients for what they may experience.  
Moreover, if the studies were published in a reputable neuroscience 
journal, they could help modern cryonics techniques gain wider acceptance 
in the scientific mainstream.

The trouble is, how does one measure episodic memory in animals?  There 
are various techniques for doing this.  Most often, I think, the Macaque 
monkey is used, but it's possible that cats or dogs could also do.  The 
animal is trained to perform some task which requires discriminating 
between visual patterns or objects it has seen before, and those which it 
has not.  The procedure (wash-out in this case) is then performed, and 
the animal is tested -- retrograde amnesia is indicated if the animal's 
performance is worse for recently seen objects than for more distant 
ones.  Of course, a control group would be needed -- or maybe two (one 
which gets anesthetized by not washed out, and one that gets sham 
injections but never loses consciousness).  The effect of "downtime" 
could be studied as well -- i.e., does 5 hours of flatline produce a 
bigger effect that 15 minutes?  (I doubt it -- but it needs to be done & 
published all the same.)

So, how about it?  Good ideas?  If so but time or funding are 
prohibitive, perhaps I can establish a collaboration between memory 
researchers here at UCSD and someone experienced in the washout 
techniques.  Let me know what you think...

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout		Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|    		http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/    |
|    http://sunsite.unc.edu/jstrout/uploading/MUHomePage.html      |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'

Reference:
Miyashita, Y.  Inferior temporal cortex: Where visual perception meets 
    memory.   Annual Review of Neuroscience, 16:245-263 (1993).

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