Manipulating Memory
Steve Ramirez
Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences
College of Arts & Sciences
Studies how memory works in the brain
We all know what it’s like to have bad memories…
but what if there was a way to artificially prevent the return of unwanted memory?
Unfortunately, memories don’t exist in one corner of the brain. They exist as a sort of constellation of brains cells interacting with one another.
For instance, the neural network involved in recalling the memory of a break-up might look like this.
We introduced a fluorescent protein into the brains of rodents so that we could actually visualize the brain cells that were involved in a particular memory.
When we stimulated the brain cells in the top part of the hippocampus that hold onto fear memory, that actually managed to suppress the fear memory.
Whereas when we stimulated the bottom part of the hippocampus repeatedly, this surprisingly enhanced the fear memory itself.
My hope is that the work we do in rodents provides some kind of blueprint for future interventions in humans.
And learn about all of the unforgettable research being done at Boston University
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