Science fiction reminiscent of the mind-bending flick “Inception” has preceded fact in the case of a new study by MIT researchers who have figured out how to lodge false memories in the brains of mice.
The research, published recently in
Science, involved using a previously developed technique known as “optogenetics” wherein the cells that are identified with traces of memories called “engrams” are essentially turned on and off like a light switch, along with the associated memory, according to reports from
Medical News Today and the
Washington Post.
The scientists used a protein called channelrhodopsin that activates neurons when stimulated by light to plant painful memories into the lab mice, the report says. The researchers engineered cells in the hippocampus of the mice so they would express the gene for channelrhodopsin whenever a gene needed for memory was turned on.
For the experiment, researchers put the mice in chamber A on the first day and allowed them to run free as they labeled their memory cells with channelrhodopsin. On the second day, researchers put the unwitting mice into chamber B, which looked different, the report says. The mice were then shocked on their foot while researchers activated memory cells from chamber A with light. Finally, on the third day, the researchers put the mice back in chamber A, where they froze in fear even though they hadn’t been shocked. The mice did freeze a bit when put back into chamber B, but not as much as when they were put into the seemingly harmless chamber.
The researchers are, of course, optimistic about future studies concerning false memories in humans and the potential of forming false memories to replace particularly traumatic ones, for instance.