Free Essay: Creating a False Memory

The article Creating a False Memory by Ramirez et al. (2013) investigates the effects of activating a subset of brain cells on an animal's memory and the ability to remember particular settings. The researcher's main objective was to determine if activating neurons in mice would alter how the animals remember past settings. To determine this, the researchers placed the mice in different cages and observed how they responded to each environment after adjusting their neurons. These mice were given foot shocks in their cages as the researchers reactivated their memories. The brain stores memories in a small set of neurons, and thus, an understanding of how the information is encoded enabled the researchers to stimulate cells to generate false memories. However, the process of identifying neurons that stimulate specific memories is challenging.

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Ramirez et al. identified specific neurons in the brain of mice that can be activated at any time. The technique of identifying such neurons in the brain cells entirely relies on optogenetics. In this regard, optogenetics is a scientific method that uses bursts of light to control brain cells. Ramirez et al. engineered brain cells as a way to produce light-sensitive proteins in mice whenever their neurons were altered in new settings. As a way to activate a specific subset of neurons, the researchers used fiber optics connected to the skull of the rodents to shine light into their brains. In connection to what was studied in class, the author's method of identifying activated cells is similar to the approach of analyzing light-sensitive proteins. In this point, the approach is based on the idea that activated cells can be distinguished from the other cells by measuring whether it contains traces of light-sensitive proteins.

In the study, Ramirez et al. tested whether or not the mice under investigation were afraid of the conditions in specific cages. Seemingly, the researchers used mice to investigate this phenomenon because it is general knowledge that fear and stress-related anxiety in rodents is seen as a form of a binary behavioral outcome. This aspect suggests that mice will likely explore the cages that they are interested in and would be curious as they sniff around. Hence, it is easy to identify mice that display fear behaviors since they would not be moving but instead huddled in one corner. So the approach used in the study was a powerful, easy readout of memory.

Experimentalists established four different cages to determine whether mice can be made to associate fear in their surroundings with their previously neutral settings. The first step involved exposing the rodents to one of the four cages which had different conditions. In this case, each pen had a distinct artificial smell, flooring materials, and different lighting. The neurons activated as the rodents scouted out of the new pen were identified by observing whether they produced specific light-sensitive proteins. In the second stage of the experiment, the same mice were moved to another cage. This time, however, researchers used light to turn on neurons that had already been activated in the first settings. As the mice explored the pen, the experimentalists simultaneously shocked their feet as a way to induce fear. Then the same rodents were introduced back to the first enclosure, but at this time, there were no activities to cause shock. It was observed that the rodents were fearful of the conditions in such settings.

In contrast, the same rodents did not show fear when they were introduced to a third cage that they had never been to before. The researchers, therefore, managed to stimulate false memories in an environment where the same rodents have never experienced anything bad in it. The control group of mice was critical in making comparisons on how the researchers managed to induce fears and, consequently, false memories in mice. Notably, the control group of mice received no neuron reactivation, but it received shocks in the second cage. Ramirez et al. observed, in this case, that the first cage of the experiment never induced fear to the rodents at all.

After a successful experiment, the researchers investigated in detail the neurons responsible for inducing false memories, mainly focusing on the first enclosure. They noted that the neurons that influenced anxiety-related behaviors in rodents were explicitly located in the dentate gyrus. In this case, the dentate gyrus is a critical part of the hippocampus in the brain. In connection with the human brain, the dentate gyrus is responsible for the formation of memories. It is also the component of the brain cells where the generation of new neurons takes place, especially during adulthood. In the human context, the behavioral experiment can be explained using the Pavlovian fear conditioning theory. The model describes how people can react to different stimuli as if it was one.

The findings from the false memory experiment are reliable and can be used in decision-making, considering the outstanding academic credentials of the authors. Liu, Ryan, and Redondo, particularly, are experienced researchers in Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a reputable non-profit research organization. The other authors are experts in the field of neural circuit genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The false memory experiment concluded that the dentate gyrus was the central part of the brain that was responsible for inducing an animal's false memories in a cage with neutral conditions. Knowledge from the study is essential in explaining the underlying mechanism that occurs in the human brain whenever there is a generation of true and false memories in it.

Reference

Ramirez, S., Liu, X., Lin, P., Suh, J., Pignatelli, M., Redondo, R. L., Tonegawa, S. (2013).

Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus. Science, 341(6144), 387-391. DOI:10.1126/science.1239073