Can the memories of a dead person be recovered? Science explores a possibility that seemed impossible

A recent study published in the scientific journal PLOS One surveyed 312 neuroscientists from different countries to find out what they think about a question as fascinating as it is disturbing: would it be possible to one day recover the memories of a preserved brain after death?

The research does not demonstrate that this can be done with current technology nor does it claim that it will happen. However, it shows a paradigm shift: more and more specialists consider that memory could remain “written” in the physical structure of the brainopening the door to future research that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.

For a long time, the neuroscience debated whether our memories depend exclusively on the electrical activity of the brain or whether they are also recorded in permanent changes in its structure.

The survey reveals that 70.5% of the specialists consulted believe that long-term memory depends mainly on memory patterns. connection between neurons and the strength of the synapses, that is, relatively stable physical modifications that could survive immediate cell death.

In other words, the brain could function, at least in part, as a huge map where experiences are recorded in the way billions of neurons connect with each other.

If that hypothesis turns out to be correct, preserving that brain architecture could mean also preserving a part of the information that makes up our memories.

This enormous network is called connectome. It is the map of all the neuronal connections in the brain, a kind of wiring plan where each neuron establishes thousands of links with other cells.

Many researchers believe that understanding this map will be one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century, comparable to the Human Genome Project which allowed DNA to be sequenced.

The hypothesis suggests that, if one day it were possible to reconstruct this framework with sufficient precision, perhaps they could also recover fragments of information associated with experiences, skills or personal memories.

But there is a huge obstacle: no one yet knows how to interpret that “code.”

Although the study aroused enormous interest, its own authors are cautious. When asked if they think it would be possible to extract a concrete, complex memory from a static “snapshot” of the preserved brain, only 45.6% responded affirmativelywhile 32.1% disagreed.

The low scientific consensus reflected in the study only highlights the problem: there is still It is not known exactly at what level the memory is stored.

Some specialists believe that it may depend solely on neuronal connections, while others consider that chemical processes, specific molecules, proteins, microscopic variations within each neuron or even dynamic patterns of electrical activity that disappear with death may also be involved.

The research also brings back to the table a technology known as aldehyde stabilized cryopreservation. This procedure combines chemical fixation of brain tissue with extremely low temperatures to preserve the microscopic structure of the brain in a very high level of detail.

Its goal is not to keep the organ alive, but to preserve its architecture intact. The problem is that, during this process, all neuronal activity disappears.

If memory also depended on electrical signals or active biochemical processes, preserving only the physical structure would not be enough to recover memories.

On the other hand, another protagonist becomes relevant in this search for the preservation of memories: artificial intelligence.

Currently, without going any further, models such as ChatGPT They can find patterns in gigantic amounts of information. In the future, similar technologies could be used to analyze entire connectomes, made up of billions of neurons and trillions of connections.

The idea is reminiscent of the digital restoration of old photographs: the AI ​​does not “see” the original image, but instead learns patterns and reconstructs information.

In an extremely distant scenario, some researchers imagine systems capable of interpret the physical organization of the brain and infer certain memories or behaviors. But for the moment, logically, that is pure scientific speculation.

So far, according to scientific sources, does not exist no artificial intelligence capable of reading human memories nor a technology that allows reconstructing the memory of a deceased person.