Scientists Create Artificial Memories

[Hijiri Byakuren]

http://www.parentherald.com/articles/22 ... -brain.htm

By studying how memories are made, UC Irvine neurobiologists created new, specific memories by direct manipulation of the brain, which could prove key to understanding and potentially resolving learning and memory disorders.

Research led by senior author Norman M. Weinberger, a research professor of neurobiology & behavior at UC Irvine, and colleagues has shown that specific memories can be made by directly altering brain cells in the cerebral cortex, which produces the predicted specific memory. The researchers say this is the first evidence that memories can be created by direct cortical manipulation. Study results appeared in the August 29 issue of Neuroscience.

During the research, Weinberger and colleagues played a specific tone to test rodents then stimulated the nucleus basalis deep within their brains, releasing acetylcholine (ACh), a chemical involved in memory formation. This procedure increased the number of brain cells responding to the specific tone. The following day, the scientists played many sounds to the animals and found that their respiration spiked when they recognized the particular tone, showing that specific memory content was created by brain changes directly induced during the experiment. Created memories have the same features as natural memories including long-term retention.

"Disorders of learning and memory are a major issue facing many people and since we've found not only a way that the brain makes memories, but how to create new memories with specific content, our hope is that our research will pave the way to prevent or resolve this global issue," said Weinberger, who is also a fellow with the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and the Center for Hearing Research at UC Irvine.

The creation of new memories by directly changing the cortex is the culmination of several years of research in Weinberger's lab implicating the nucleus basalis and ACh in brain plasticity and specific memory formation. Previously, the authors had also shown that the strength of memory is controlled by the number of cells in the auditory cortex that process a sound.

I'd like to see our resident theist trolls explain this one.

[Plu]

All I can think is...

[SGOS]

This could be big.  I'd like to get some new memories.  I'd like to have some memories removed.  Finally, science is actually doing something practical.   :-D

[_Xenu_]

Given my PTSD status, I would gladly have some memories erased.

[stromboli]

Way ahead of you. I have several artificially created memories of me and Scarlett Johansen already.  :-D

I can go all the way back to Brigitte Bardot on that one.

[Satt]

Total Recall comes to mind.

[Jason78]

Blue skies on Mars?  That's a new one!

[kilodelta]

Benny!!!!!!! SCWREW YOU!!!

[Colanth]

I'd like to see our resident theist trolls explain this one.

The same answer they always have - Goddidit.

[NeoLogic26]

This is potentially monumental. I realize it's far from Total Recall territory, but that seems like only a matter of scale. The Matrix reference isn't far off either. I'm excited to see what comes of this research.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I'd like to see our resident theist trolls explain this one.

The same answer they always have - Goddidit.

I'm talking about folks like our own Mr. Gomtuu, who IIRC seems to think that everything that makes up an individual's mind belongs to "the soul." I've often heard theists like him try to say that the brain may store memories for the soul, but that the soul is the ultimate source. The ability for scientists to just make memories from scratch kind of challenges that notion.

[Colanth]

I'm talking about folks like our own Mr. Gomtuu, who IIRC seems to think that everything that makes up an individual's mind belongs to "the soul." I've often heard theists like him try to say that the brain may store memories for the soul, but that the soul is the ultimate source. The ability for scientists to just make memories from scratch kind of challenges that notion.

"Umm" would be a strong challenge to that notion.