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Researchers Implant False Memories In Mice

Posted by samzenpus on from the remember-this dept.

sciencehabit writes "Call it 'Total Recall' for mice. A group of neuroscientists say that they've identified a potential mechanism of false memory creation and have planted such a memory in the brain of a mouse. With this knowledge, neuroscientists can start to figure out how many neurons it takes to give us the perception of what's around us and what goes on in our neural wiring when we remember—or misremember—the past."

6 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Download complete by NoMoreMrNiceGuy2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know kung fu.

    1. Re:Download complete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You remember the spider that lived in a bush outside your window? Orange body, green legs?

  2. The egg hatched... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Deckard: Remember when you were six? You and your brother snuck into an empty building through a basement window. You were going to play doctor. He showed you his, but when it got to be your turn you chickened and ran; you remember that? You ever tell anybody that? Your mother, Tyrell, anybody? Remember the spider that lived outside your window? Orange body, green legs. Watched her build a web all summer, then one day there's a big egg in it. The egg hatched...
    Rachael: The egg hatched...
    Deckard: Yeah...
    Rachael: ...and a hundred baby spiders came out... and they ate her.

  3. HHGTG by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the mice thought they were supervising a computer program to find the ultimate question of Life the Universe and Everything

  4. Re:No they didn't by DaemonDan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Agreed. I'm not convinced they didn't just condition the mouse to fear that room by forcing an association of that room and pain, similar to me showing you a picture of Beiber and hitting you with a stick until every time you see a picture of him you cringe (maybe that's a bad example).

    Regardless, it is pretty interesting that they could pin-point the precise location where the memory of the room was stored and force that negative association at the neuronal level. Not quite an implanted memory, but still cool.

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  5. Re:The Matrix by Muad'Dave · · Score: 4, Informative

    And where do you think muscle memory is stored?

    The memories themselves may be stored in the brain, but what you'd be missing from the Kung-Fu download would be the proprioception mapping for your body. If the original Kung-Fu masters musculature and limb lengths were very much different from the learner, the learner would be more likely to beat himself to death than anyone else.

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