Scientists implant false memories into mice

[Evilshy 5,089]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23447600

 

For those who don't want to read the article, they put a mouse into a rather pleasant blue box, and then examined which memory neurons were firing (this is a gross oversimplification, but bear with me).

They then took the mouse out of the box, stimulated the same neurons of the blue box memory, but this time ran some mild electricity through the floor, which is something that distresses mice.

They put the mouse back in the blue box, and he was distressed because his memory of the actually pleasant blue box was now negative and involved a distressing amount of electric floors.

 

This line of study can teach us a lot about how memories are formed, stored, and change. Memory is not static, it changes all the time, which can be a problem in a lot of different ways (most notably, court). This could also help better understand how memory effecting diseases work and how they can be combated.

[repsol rave 2,963]

wow that's pretty amazing. 

so basically, what the did here was combining a memory. not really inplant a new one.

but still really impressive.

 

(also, gotta love the little 'crown' they gave him :3)

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,794]

 

I don't want to judge this ethically. Progress simply happens and this here can open a lot of possibilities. To figure out one day how memory exactly works and what possibilities this here gives to medical research is quite impressive. Could be one of the many steps to cure Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia.

[Argos 191]

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Edited March 16, 2014 by Argos

[Scootalove 10,684]

I guess they were trying to discover any other things that scientists haven't discovered about mice. So, maybe they are trying to learn if mice are good with memories or can track anything that happens to them.

[Evilshy 5,089]

I guess they were trying to discover any other things that scientists haven't discovered about mice. So, maybe they are trying to learn if mice are good with memories or can track anything that happens to them.

 

Actually, mice are used because mouse brains work in ways incredibly similar to human brains. Makes them an extremely good way to test things faster, with more trials. Mice are plentiful and reproduce much more quickly.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Actually, mice are used because mouse brains work in ways incredibly similar to human brains. Makes them an extremely good way to test things faster, with more trials. Mice are plentiful and reproduce much more quickly.

Well if they are going to test mice and try to compare the memory of a mice to a human's memory then I guess it is a pretty huge scientific discovery. Wait, reproduce much more quickly? O_O

[repsol rave 2,963]

 

 

try to compare the memory of a mice to a human's memory

wait, what if they plant the memory of a mouse into a human? that would be amazing XD will the human know how it feels to be a mouse? 

[Planty 1,052]

I guess they were trying to discover any other things that scientists haven't discovered about mice. So, maybe they are trying to learn if mice are good with memories or can track anything that happens to them.

I though this was more exciting then it was, but this has been done in other ways in humans using electrical currents to stimulate the part of the brain that indicates enjoyment .

 

Sadly the news story name is very very sensationalist and misleading :x.

 

They use non invasive methods already to change the way humans see certain animals in kind of a face your fears. There have been studies with the fear of spiders .

 

In any doubt, this is still super cool, the brain is so complex and advancement in understanding it better is amazing !

[Dzastur 1,719]

I can think of ways you could potentially make a LOT of money by being able to do this successfully with humans.

 

Plus, there'd be no downside...

 

 

...I'm guessing.

[Dark Horn 430]

An interesting study. I'm no neurologist, and I certainly won't pretend to be, but it sounds like it could be useful in the future. Maybe.

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

This sounds useful and scary at the same time.

 

This will get all the ethical bullshit fired at it from tons of different groups. I wont pretend to be an expert on things like I usually pretend to be, I have no idea how this stuff works but it sounds useful.

[Commander Urdnot 2,680]

''Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.'' - Albert Einstein

 

As much as I love to see diseases like Alzheimer and dementia cured or the effects of them reduced there is a great potential in this, a potential that could not turn out too positively in the future.

That's a pretty negative way of looking at things...

 

A hammer can be used as a blunt weapon, and with one blow to the head. It can take a person's life. At the same time, a hammer can also be used as a tool, and it can craft facilities such as hospitals. It can save many people's lives.

 

Just as technology can be used for bad, it can be used for good too. Don't be so quick as to discard a tool simply because it can be used for bad. A tool has no mind of it's own, it lends its power to whomever calls upon it. Blame the person, not the tool.

 

While the hammer has taken many lives, it has saved far more. Technology as a whole is just the same.

[Argos 191]

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Edited March 16, 2014 by Argos

[Discovery Dream 592]

I read this in the Washington Post and started screaming because To the Moon anyone hmmm hmmm

 

The only thing I don't get is how stimulating certain neurons create something like a memory, which is almost always a picture? It's incredibly interesting but the article didn't get into a lot of detail about that.