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Scientists Insert a Synthetic Memory Into the Brain of a Sleeping Mouse

Posted by Soulskill on from the best-party-you-never-had dept.

the_newsbeagle writes: Scientists are learning how to insert fake memories into the brain via precise electrical stimulation (abstract). In the latest experiment, they gave sleeping mice a synthetic memory that linked a particular location in a test chamber to a pleasurable sensation. (At least they gave the mice a nice memory.)

The researchers first recorded the electrical signals from the mice's brains while the mice were awake and exploring the test chamber, until the researchers identified patterns of activity associated with a certain location. Then, when the mice slept, the researchers watched for those neural patterns to be replayed, indicating that the mice were consolidating the memory of that location. At that moment, they zapped a reward center of the mice's brains. When the mice awoke and went back into the chamber, they hung around that reward-associated location, presumably expecting a dose of feel-good.

8 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. I know Kung Fu by nobuddy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Very early in the research, but man would this be a cool alternative to education. Take a nap, ready to start your PhD Thesis.

    1. Re:I know Kung Fu by ckatko · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, that's not really what they said. Far out, that may be possible, but what they've done is not create memories but help the brain highlight important information. So you would still have to go to class, and still have to pay close attention to ensure your short-term doesn't toss it away (or you didn't listen to begin with). This would only force your brain to remember it. Side-effects include sexual arousal during all recalled memories.

      I call the term "brain boner". You heard it first here folks!

      What I find most interesting about brain research is 1) The possibility to communicate with non-humans and 2) the immediate ability of us to realize how cognitive our fellow animals are. We might find out we've been committing atrocities against intelligent lifeforms at an unfathomable scale. On a less disturbing advantage: 3) I'm a bird and I'm flying! Oh my Gooooddd! and 4) Better understanding of memory and learning. We might find out that the brain has a limit and we've all been bouncing off that limit without realizing it meaning filling your head with junk information is dangerous. Or that there's a certain, most effective way to learn that we've all missed. The future fills me with an awe-filled fear and excitement.

  2. That's not really a memory... by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't seem like what they did is really creating a "synthetic memory". It's taking an existing memory, and attaching (or perhaps even just re-enforcing) an emotion to it...

    The memory of the place is the same, they just remember enjoying it more than they did at the time.

    As a human you could do the same thing by visiting a famous place, then reading a really good story set there. Your own recollections of the place would have a fonder cast if you were even more excited about having been there.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Presumably? by jkyrlach · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wake me when they can zap a mouse and it can get to someplace it's never been before.

  4. Stupid Mice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So stupid. Can you imagine hanging around a place waiting for a pleasure signal? Animals are so... wait a second, got to check the FaceTwitterSlashFark feed... nothing new, darn. Anyhow, animals are so... ooh, new update!

  5. Re:Not about learning... by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Developing habits is arguably the most important form of education there is.

    It's not just about eating your veggies and going to the gym; habits intrude on things which we normally think of as the domain of rational thought. If you hear somebody who disagrees with you do you rationally weigh his arguments or automatically dismiss them? What determines which of these alternatives you choose is habit.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  6. Exercise by sandytaru · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can someone zap the pleasure centers in my brain while I'm looking at a picture of a treadmill? Or better yet, am ON a treadmill?

    --
    Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
  7. The Pleasures of Paying Taxes by pubwvj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The IRS is funding this research with the hope of getting tax payers to look forward to paying their taxes, more often, larger, bigger, huger! Pretty soon you'll want to shovel your money into the IRS pockets so that you can feel that pleasure. It will be better than sex, better than chocolate. There will be a resulting reduction in world obesity and population.