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Science

Scientists Insert a Synthetic Memory Into the Brain of a Sleeping Mouse 111

Posted by Soulskill from the best-party-you-never-had dept.
the_newsbeagle writes: Scientists are learning how to insert fake memories into the brain via precise electrical stimulation (abstract). In the latest experiment, they gave sleeping mice a synthetic memory that linked a particular location in a test chamber to a pleasurable sensation. (At least they gave the mice a nice memory.)

The researchers first recorded the electrical signals from the mice's brains while the mice were awake and exploring the test chamber, until the researchers identified patterns of activity associated with a certain location. Then, when the mice slept, the researchers watched for those neural patterns to be replayed, indicating that the mice were consolidating the memory of that location. At that moment, they zapped a reward center of the mice's brains. When the mice awoke and went back into the chamber, they hung around that reward-associated location, presumably expecting a dose of feel-good.
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Scientists Insert a Synthetic Memory Into the Brain of a Sleeping Mouse More

Scientists Insert a Synthetic Memory Into the Brain of a Sleeping Mouse

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  • I know Kung Fu (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nobuddy ( 952985 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @02:45PM (#49227045) Homepage Journal

    Very early in the research, but man would this be a cool alternative to education. Take a nap, ready to start your PhD Thesis.

    • Something to do during these oppressively long meetings. Maybe we'd even have less if people weren't talking and using the wasted time to make themselves actually smarter rather than just sounding smarter!

      • Something to do during these oppressively long meetings.

        Just great. Take a nap, wake and exclaim, "I know TeamForge" - as River Tam put it, "Put a bullet to me. Bullet in the brain pan. Squish."

      • Corporations will use their resources to insert memories into your brain and make you LOVE those oppressive meetings

        • I assume you refer to ads ?

          • Nope. I refer to you, going to work and loving everything that you used to hate, because there's this thing above your head that makes you take a nap as soon as you sit on your chair... and when you wake up, you'll like your boss, your retarded co-workers and every lil' shit that's thrown at you during your workday there.

    • It's not about learning, it's about habits. If you develop the tech for people, you can stimulate the reward centers for your own brain when consolidating memories of productive behaviors.

      • Or you could just... you know... remotely compel everyone in a 2 mile radius to buy your pizza.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by thieh ( 3654731 )
          You sure after eating all those pizzas you won't die from obesity-related problems? Even if you change it to sexual favours you might still get STD's. Better just stick to everyone giving you a few dollars every now and then.

        • There is a precedent of such technology being used in Italy, decades ago [wikipedia.org]. It was a bit more painful than this new method though.

        • It's called marijuana...

      • Re:Not about learning... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by hey! ( 33014 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @03:17PM (#49227359) Homepage Journal

        Developing habits is arguably the most important form of education there is.

        It's not just about eating your veggies and going to the gym; habits intrude on things which we normally think of as the domain of rational thought. If you hear somebody who disagrees with you do you rationally weigh his arguments or automatically dismiss them? What determines which of these alternatives you choose is habit.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Over time, this may end up being a cure for severe drug addictions, or just a way to get consumers to buy more. Interesting times we live in...

    • Re:I know Kung Fu (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Chris Katko ( 2923353 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @03:09PM (#49227269)
      Well, that's not really what they said. Far out, that may be possible, but what they've done is not create memories but help the brain highlight important information. So you would still have to go to class, and still have to pay close attention to ensure your short-term doesn't toss it away (or you didn't listen to begin with). This would only force your brain to remember it. Side-effects include sexual arousal during all recalled memories.

      I call the term "brain boner". You heard it first here folks!

      What I find most interesting about brain research is 1) The possibility to communicate with non-humans and 2) the immediate ability of us to realize how cognitive our fellow animals are. We might find out we've been committing atrocities against intelligent lifeforms at an unfathomable scale. On a less disturbing advantage: 3) I'm a bird and I'm flying! Oh my Gooooddd! and 4) Better understanding of memory and learning. We might find out that the brain has a limit and we've all been bouncing off that limit without realizing it meaning filling your head with junk information is dangerous. Or that there's a certain, most effective way to learn that we've all missed. The future fills me with an awe-filled fear and excitement.

      • Well, that's not really what they said. Far out, that may be possible, but what they've done is not create memories but help the brain highlight important information...

        I suppose they could claim they created the memory of the pleasant sensation, but I think at most what they did was create an association, not a memory, or like you say trigger something that locks the memory in.

    • Very early in the research, but man would this be a cool alternative to education. Take a nap, ready to start your PhD Thesis.

      Well I'm glad your memory is recalling the feel-good learning curves that were blown away in The Matrix.

      I was thinking more along the lines of Total Recall, with governments using this kind of technology as a weapon, not a learning tool.

      We don't know the classified side of this research. At all.

    • Very early in the research, but man would this be a cool alternative to education. Take a nap, ready to start your PhD Thesis.

      Or, alternatively, plant memories of sexual abuse in children so you can do away with your political opponents (the premise of Blake's 7 btw).

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Very early in the research, but man would this be a cool alternative to education. Take a nap, ready to start your PhD Thesis.

      Well, this is more like making you associate something with pleasure. You can probably not learn new things with this method.
      But if you kidnap someone you can probably change that fear of you into love when they sleep.

    • yes, conditioning of the mind in every aspect imaginable. what could possibly go wrong..
  • The obvious reason why this line of research is 'starting' now is that it is only with contemporary solid-state RF hardware that HAARP's sinister mind control can be miniaturized sufficiently for use on rodents in the laboratory, rather than mixed nuts worldwide.
  • Cue loud horn section from "Inception"

  • Just like in Men In Black (Score:3)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @02:52PM (#49227111) Journal
    (At least they gave the mice a nice memory.)

    First when K flashes Beatrice after she saw her "husband" inhale the sugar water, and later at the morgue, when K instructs the clean up crew to give the coroner a happy memory.

    • A nice memory for the mouse, but... The mice are hanging around that part of the maze waiting for something good to happen. Now they're just disappointed and more suicidal than ever.

  • worn that tinfoil hat I gave you.

  • It's the beginning of Pinky and the Brain.

  • Injecting memories (Score:3)

    by spacepimp ( 664856 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @02:55PM (#49227141)

    Things like this will never get exploited by opportunistic Intelligence Agencies.

    Let's sit back and watch them scramble over themselves to justify why they need this tech.

    Yes slightly offtopic, but I bet they are funding the research.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pav ( 4298 )
      They're certainly interested eg. Rebecca Saxe [ted.com]. Yes, she explicitly says the pentagon has called her, though she says she's not returning the calls (see the first question asked at the end of this talk). I guess that's not where she is getting her funding.
  • That pretty much sums up my dating life.

  • That's not really a memory... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @02:59PM (#49227173)

    It doesn't seem like what they did is really creating a "synthetic memory". It's taking an existing memory, and attaching (or perhaps even just re-enforcing) an emotion to it...

    The memory of the place is the same, they just remember enjoying it more than they did at the time.

    As a human you could do the same thing by visiting a famous place, then reading a really good story set there. Your own recollections of the place would have a fonder cast if you were even more excited about having been there.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      sigh, yup, a synthetic reinforcement not a memory. Rather easier to accomplish. I suppose they have a false 'memory' of liking it...

      At least our click-bait headlines are still 1st class.

    • the mouse just said, "Whoa, I know kung-fu."

  • Presumably? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jkyrlach ( 1076609 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @02:59PM (#49227175)
    Wake me when they can zap a mouse and it can get to someplace it's never been before.

  • Just fucking great.

  • This, along with the already known way to simply wipe-out certain memories [scientificamerican.com], can go a long way towards establishing the "Right To Be Forgotten" [slashdot.org]. Your ex, for example, may be able to obtain a court order for you to undergo the procedure to remove your memories of all the good times you had together...

    Or, if that seems too draconian, have those memories replaced by your taking a hike or flying a kite...

    • > Your ex, for example, may be able to obtain a court order for you to undergo the procedure to remove your memories of all the good times you had together...

      While that's an interesting plot for a Sci-Fi story, forcing someone to modify their body would amount to corporal punishment.

      That's not to say governments might not abuse this (abduct you, get you to leak info, and erase they were ever there, Men in Black style), but your ex-wife will not be afforded such luxuries.

      On the other hand, even if t

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mi ( 197448 )

        While that's an interesting plot for a Sci-Fi story, forcing someone to modify their body would amount to corporal punishment.

        As long as it is not cruel, it will be argued, it is fine... Besides, I'm not talking criminal punishment — you may find yourself "voluntarily agreeing" to a memory wipe in exchange for being allowed to see your children after divorce.

        can't erase everyone's memory, photos and video of my abduction

        Yes, you'll know you two once had fun together, but you would not be able to recal

    • Sounds like a twist on the plot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In that story the premise is that people pay for their own memories to be earased so they can forget a lost love. I recommend that people watch it whenever it comes up in conversation.

  • ...about how the brain consolidates memories in sleep, that, it's entirely possible that the brain organizes things in some order of least to most pain/fear. So... by zapping the pleasure center it may have actually turned the rest of the memory into a terrifying hell.
  • OK, now it makes sense. This is probably how Brian Williams and Bill O' Reilly came to believe in his own death defying ordeals in the course of news reporting.

  • Stupid Mice (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @03:10PM (#49227281)

    So stupid. Can you imagine hanging around a place waiting for a pleasure signal? Animals are so... wait a second, got to check the FaceTwitterSlashFark feed... nothing new, darn. Anyhow, animals are so... ooh, new update!

  • "Science: we're all about _coulda_ not about _shoulda_"

    No doubt quite a few despots and TLAs are following this news closely.
  • Think of the Commercial applications! Kids hate peas? zap! they love 'em. McDonald sales down? Zap! New definition of 'Happy Meal'.

  • Exercise (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sandytaru ( 1158959 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @03:31PM (#49227457) Journal
    Can someone zap the pleasure centers in my brain while I'm looking at a picture of a treadmill? Or better yet, am ON a treadmill?

  • Sounds familiar (Score:3)

    by Marginal Coward ( 3557951 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#49227485)

    Didn't /. run an article on this before? Wait a minute, am I maybe part of the experiment...?

  • Que MIB neuralizer and Total Recall jokes.

  • The Pleasures of Paying Taxes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pubwvj ( 1045960 ) on Tuesday March 10, 2015 @04:39PM (#49227999)

    The IRS is funding this research with the hope of getting tax payers to look forward to paying their taxes, more often, larger, bigger, huger! Pretty soon you'll want to shovel your money into the IRS pockets so that you can feel that pleasure. It will be better than sex, better than chocolate. There will be a resulting reduction in world obesity and population.

  • Greg Bear had this ability as central plot points in Eon and Eternity, and Peter F. Hamilton took it much deeper in Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained.

    If you dream it, it will come.

  • Well, perhaps not with outright electrical zaps to the brain, yet with other means like a deluge of mind bashing TV ads? The way that ads target aspects of human psych not related to the product being sold seems to be a similar tactic to convince one to buy a product; which seems to be unduly offensive and unethical. THIS is an area that needs severe regulation.
  • Imagine how smart the average Congressperson would be if scientists injected them with synthetic memory every time they were sleeping.

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