Week 5 Articles

This weeks papers look at the processes behind artificial memory formations especially in the context of fear conditioning.  The Yiu paper focuses in on what properties of neurons make them more specifically susceptible to recruitment into a memory trace, and how artificially exciting these isolated neurons can produce a false memory response.  The increased excitability measures of a neuron, before training, were a sufficient indicator of which cells would be employed for the enhancement of memory formation.  The higher expression of the transcription factor CREB is the dictating force of these activity levels and direct neuronal recruitment to memory traces however not influencing anxiety like behaviors.  This paper dates a year after the Ramirez paper, which presented a more outstanding perspective on the fragility of a brain in regards to false memory acquisition.       

The Ramirez paper does a successful job portraying the implantation of a false memory related to a conditioned fear stimulus, clearly proving that memories are a byproduct of neural circuitry that can be influenced by a greater manipulation of the neurons at play as much as an actual experience triggers the brain.  The use of optogentic techniques is undeniably effective, but I wonder how this directly translates to the human experience.  What is the equivalent to optically reactivating these DG neurons during a conditioned stimulus that would allow for the brain to get confused, or is this gearing to be the foundation of an invasive treatment of some sorts?  After reading this my next thought is that our brains employ precautionary mechanisms to inhibit false integrations of stimuli that would lead to the improper recall of experiences.  The fact that two conditioned stimuli can get intertwined and consequently skew one another’s integrity leads me to believe that such results from false memory experimentation are more reflective of the threshold and capacity the brain has to integrate simultaneous stimuli into discrete memories.  Nonetheless the Ramirez paper deserves full credit for pulling off such an exposing stunt and presenting data that soundly backs it.