Imagine your last birthday party. You might recall the guests, the cake, and the gifts you received. Now, envision not being able to access such memories. How would your life change? You might struggle to remember where you parked your car or what you planned for dinner. Nearly 50% of patients with epilepsy experience memory difficulties. These patients report that their greatest concern, after the fear of sudden seizures, is the impact of memory problems. Such challenges can hinder their social participation and affect their ability to work.
In order to help patients with memory difficulties, it is essential to understand how electrical activity in the brain forms memories and how illness can disrupt or destroy these processes. We have a unique opportunity to understand these processes by examining neural activity from electrodes inside the human brain (intracranial EEG, iEEG). This methodology allows us to analyze electrical brain activity with excellent signal-to-noise ratio compared to other methodologies such as EEG measured with electrodes on the outside of the skull or functional MRI. We will combine this with novel memory tasks that mimic situations that could occur in daily life. With this unique dataset, we will use state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to delineate which disease processes in the brain cause memory difficulties for patients with epilepsy. The study will thus provide us with an enhanced understanding of the mechanisms behind memory difficulties and point towards future therapeutic goals to counteract these in patients with epilepsy.
