A photo from open sources PHOTO: AP American scientists from University of California found a way to erase unpleasant memories – with the help of flashes of light. Experiments on removal from the brain of stressful moments from life were carried out on mice. Developed by researchers, the scientific miracle of technology, able to partially relieve a person of memories of unnecessary events, echoes the plot of the popular film “People in black “: you need to look at the light to erase the memory of something bad, reports the British newspaper The Daily Mail. California scientists have moved one step closer in trying to uncover the mystery of how our memory works and how you can manage it. They used flashes of light to erase specific memories from rodents, and proved basic scientific theories about how different parts of the brain interact with each other, adding episodic in our memory memories. This technique, known as optogenetics, is a new Method for studying manipulations of nerve cells that respond to excitation with light, to study the functions of the brain. Scientists have found that episodic memories of specific places and events suggest coordinated activities between the crust brain and hippocampus – a small gyrus in the depths the brain responsible for the formation of emotions and fixing memories, that is, the transition from short-term memory to long term. Experts performed experiments on mice to understand exactly which nerve cells in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus are responsible for specific unpleasant memories, and washed them with the help of light. However, if the hippocampus is damaged, experimental patients may lose decades of memory scientists warn. To do this, the mice were lightly hit electric shock. As noted in the study, mice from shock in fear died away in the cells on the spot, but after treatment with light the mice were comfortable again. So scientists made it possible to turn off nerve cells in the hippocampus, and proved that mice lost memories of an unpleasant event.
Dmitry NERATOV
