Rewriting Life

The Cross-Section of Memory

Neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute have demonstrated that optogenetics can be used to place false memories in the brains of lab rodents.

Can you install a false memory in the brain? Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown it’s possible in lab animals. First they locate where in the brain the memory is formed; then they use optogenetics to manipulate the memory neurons. One day such techniques could be used to help people with debilitating traumatic memories.