Scientists Can Implant Fake Memories in the Brain, Here’s How

Scientists can now manipulate the memories inside the brains of mice! Here’s how this new discovery can change the way we look at our own brains.

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“Which was amazing, because the memory was bogus: The mouse had never received an electric shock in that box. Rather, it was reacting to a false memory that Ramirez and his MIT colleague Xu Liu had planted in its brain.”

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“The researchers focused on astrocytes -- star-shaped cells that greatly outnumber neurons -- in mice, and found that when these cells overproduce a protein called ephrin-B1, the ability to retain memory weakens.”

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“This isn’t the first time Kahana’s lab has explored the impacts of brain stimulation on memory. Last year, the group showed that electrode pulses seemed to improve or worsen recall, depending on when the researchers delivered them.”

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Special thanks to Crystal Dilworth for hosting and writing this episode of Seeker!

[desperatedudeearthisflatwh]

I need my school textbooks to be recorded in memory cells and then put it in my brain.

[Master_Therion]

And when the mouse learned it had been given a fake memory... it was shocked!

[rudy_ier]

"I want to go to the moon."
"Why?"
"I don't know."

[latestgreatest]

Sucks being a mouse, scientists all over poking in your mind :)

[KenTheAdventurer]

The new Black Mirror plot looks awesome.

[thecapacitor]

"Once I had to hide my wooden horse in a dark furnace"

[joelb]

This is scary as shit. Imagine what the government will do with this.

[CuriosityCulture]

My sci-fi dreams are slowly coming true ;)

[Jojohumf]

This is so good, we could remove memories of traumatic events such as child abuse, crashes and so on. This would be very therapeutic

[TheHashCrackingSlasher]

Oh god we're one step closer to becoming synths!

[MyDevOpsJourney_]

Science never ceases to amaze me every single day.

[darkphilosopher]

The biggest breakthrough in PTSD was the discovery that if you can make people really happy while they talk about their terrible experiences, it can reduce or potentially even cure the PTSD in the patient. I think the drug they used to achieve this was ecstasy which only seemed to work because the patient received a mild dose to make them happy while a therapist had them talk about their traumatic experiences.

[opticatinite]

Scientist: Do you remember the shock?
Mouse:
Scientist: My god! It doesn't remember!

[mattvsolomon]

Okay.It actually kind of sounds a bit like the mice were just traumatized from each experiment.

[qqq]

Why take a real dangerous vacation to Mars when you can visit Recall and have the memories of a perfect vacation implanted.

[crystalstinson]

The mouse’s variable was not the “safe room” the controlled variable was the “sight of the scientist”.

[res]

It's gonna be hilarious when people start inserting memories about them being batman, spiderman, etc.

[davidmontoya]

Dude, 😂 what if we are a bunch of mice with programmed memories

That would be a crazy scientific experiment

[ShadowSora]

Not quite sure forgetting painful events is the best way to go about them, its better to be able to accept them and move on as an individual, its how we grow as people, from our experiences good and bad.

[sdnw]

Can't wait for my spy thriller vacation to Mars.