Amygdala Memory Enhancement
Brain Diseases, Epilepsy, Memory Disorders
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Brain Diseases
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Must be able to understand and speak English.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Diagnosed with epilepsy.
- Scheduled to undergo long-term intra-cranial video monitoring for seizure onset localization.
- Must be implanted with intracranial depth electrodes to the left or right amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal/perirhinal cortices.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Unable to understand and speak English.
- Unable to provide informed consent.
- Not diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sites / Locations
- Washington University School of MedicineRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Experimental
Brain Stimulation
Neurosurgical epilepsy patients that undergo placement of medial temporal electrode for seizure localizations will be recruited. All participants will view a series of images of emotionally-neutral objects on a computer screen. After each item presentation, they will randomly undergo either active-BLAES or sham-stimulation. Over subsequent days, free recall and recognition memory for these items, relative to new distractor items will be tested. Memory for items presented with and without stimulation will be compared. Brain activity recorded in the medial temporal lobe during item presentations will be used to predict subsequent memory. Such good and bad memory states (biomarkers) will be used to perform closed-loop stimulation when bad memory states are detected in order to enhance subsequent memory.