However, there is much, much more in Kevin's research. Still using lab rats, Clark next showed that vagus nerve stimulation increased neural activity in the hippocampus, an area in animal and human brains that plays a role in the ability to learn. Clark got the chance to test his hypothesis on humans after meeting an SIUC physician, Dr. Dean Naritoku, who was conducting clinical trials at the medical school in Springfield of vagal nerve stimulation as a means of controlling epileptic seizures. With the help of Naritoku, Clark was able to show that people who were given sets of words to remember could recall those words that had been paired with vagus nerve stimulation better than those words that had not been paired with stimulation. It was this portion of his work that was published in Nature Neuroscience.
Many scientists go a lifetime without being able to publish in such a prestigious journal.
Clark completed his doctoral degree last May and has since studied at the Max Planck Institute in T bingen, Germany. A native of Portland, Ore., Clark earned his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University in 1989 and his master's from SIUC in 1995. Minn. She earned her bachelor's degree from Southern Connecticut State University in 1968 and her master's from San Francisco State University in 1987.