In a move that sounds like a plot point from Inception, scientists say they can artificially implant a memory in a living brain… belonging to a mouse.
In a paper published this week, MIT scientists report on an amazing experiment in mind control: They’ve been able to implant the false memory of electric shocks in a mouse, so convincingly that the creatures react in fear as if the experience really happened.
The trick is actually very specific, and uses a technique that you may not expect: genetics. By activating special brain cells with gene therapy, targeting cells that react to light, scientists were able to make the mouse believe it remembered receiving an electric shock. The memories were triggered by shining a laser into the optically sensitive parts of the mouse brain via a fiber optic. The engineered mice reacted by freezing in fear because they remembered receiving a shock in this environment before–even through it hadn’t actually happened.
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via Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/3014895/tech-forecast/artificial-mouse-memories-implanted-by-mit-scientists