False Memories in Mice

   Who would have thought, that by using Optogenetics, one could create false memories in mice. False memories have been highly evident in humans and are also the subject of many eyewitness testimonies in court cases. Resulting in the term false memory syndrome, which has not been accepted as a mental disorder by scientists, even though research has shown memories, can be altered by outside influence such using suggestive questions. Anyway, the work of Ramirez and his associates has proven that false memory was possible by ontogenetically stimulating granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. This would help bring forth a neuroscience-supported idea to help explain planting false memories in the brain.

   The protocol used in this study is a bit different from the previous studies we read. For starter, here they used light sensitive protein to tag neurons as opposed to using an auditory tone. Ramirez and his team have been able, to a certain extent; transfer a fear memory from one place (Box A) to another (Box B). They would place a mouse in controlled and safe environment (Box A) and monitor the mouse’s brain activity in order to identify the hippocampal neurons and would then label those neurons with channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). The next day, they would place the mouse in a second box (Box B), where it would receive electric shocks, while pulses of light activated the neurons that were tagged with ChR2 that have encoded the memory of Box A. Finally, they would place the mouse in Box A, and when the light was delivered to the brain, the mouse has displayed a heightened fear response, even though the animal was not shocked in Box A. Also, the mouse would freeze in Box A even if the pulsing light was not there.

   This study gives a new way of thinking about false memories and hopefully it would help prove the existence of false memory from a neuroscience perspective, which would be beneficial when it comes to eyewitness testimonies.