Manipulating a Mouse’s Memories
How optogenetics is used to understand the science of memory
I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I often overlook the value of memory. Our memories play such a vital role in the shaping of our morals, personalities — everything that makes us, well, us.
We have lots of good memories, and a fair amount of bad ones too. But those memories are objectively “bad” because of the emotions associated with them, right?
What if there was a way to keep the memory (which is fundamental to our being), but remove the underlying “icky” feeling that comes with it? In 2014, MIT neuroscientists Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu were able to create “artificial memories” in mice using optogenetics.
For those who don’t know: optogenetics is a technique that uses light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to be light-sensitive.
The Experiment 🧫
In this experiment, a past memory was induced, but the mouse was provided with new information as well. As the new information was processed, it was fused with the reactivated memory and just like that, the memory was changed.
