Creating a False Memory in the Brain of Mice (IMAGE)
Caption
This cartoon explains how Dr Tonegawa's team created a false memory in the brain of mice. They first put the mouse in one environment (illustrated as the blue box), labeled the brain cells encoding for the memory of this environment (white circles), and made these cells responsive to light. Then they put the animal in a different environment (illustrated as the red box) and delivered light into the brain to activate these labeled cells. This induced the recall of the first environment -- the blue box. While the animal was recalling the first environment, they also received mild foot shocks. Later when we put the animal back into the first environment, it showed behavioral signs of fear, indicating it had formed a false fear memory for the first environment, where it was never shocked in reality.
Credit
Collective Next
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UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: 14:00 US Eastern Time, 18:00 GMT Thursday, 25th July 2013 / 03:00 am JST Friday 26th July 2013
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