Real Life Inception

Introduction:

After a painful breakup, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) from her mind. When Joel discovers that Clementine is going to extremes to forget their relationship, he undergoes the same procedure and slowly begins to forget the woman that he loved. This beautiful masterpiece of a film explores the intricacy of relationships and the pain of loss. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind is one of my ultimate favorite films. The bitter sweetness of this film is that the heart cannot forget what was erased in the mind. Is it possible to not only delete memories but implant new ones?

This progressive 'treatment' of deleting memories in the film also reflects a recent discovery made by researchers from MIT as well as work attributed by French researchers.  Instead of deleting memories, they found a way to successfully implant false memory into a mouse.

 

Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu, researchers from MIT, successfully implanted a false memory in the mind of a mouse. Exactly, how did they accomplish this? With the scientific method in mind, they began with an idea that was sparked when they noticed a mouse's reaction when it was placed inside a metal box. The mouse was just as frightened as if it had received an electric shock. 

 

Ramirez placed the mouse in a small metal box with a black plastic floor. Instead of exploring its surroundings, the mouse froze with terror as it recalled the foot shock it received when he was in that very same box. Ramirez was witnessing a fear response as the mouse became rigid when the traumatic memory flooded its brain. This astonishing reaction from the mouse was groundbreaking because it was reacting to a false memory. It had never received an electric shock, however it was reacting to a false memory that Ramirez and his MIT colleague Xu Liu had planted in its brain.

The observation was two years in the making of a long-shot research effort and supported an extraordinary hypothesis: Not only was it possible to identify brain cells involved in the encoding of a single memory, but those specific cells could be manipulated to create a whole new “memory” of an event that never happened.

By locating and identifying the neurons that encodes memory, people will be closer to understanding how memory works. In addition to finding these neurons, one can then implant or create a false memory. The basis for this discovery was thanks to research conducted from Oxford as they had previously discovered how short-term memories transferred into long term memories. Memories, in general, are stored in 'engrams' which are groups of neurons that are located in many regions throughout the brain.

In the ‘Nature Neuro science’ journal one can find the first ever study conducted in the hopes of implanting false memories into the brains of sleeping animals is recorded to explain to the general public the details of such a study, the importance of its results, our better understanding of how nerve cells encode spatial memories in addition to the importance of sleep in making these memories stronger.

Neuroscientists in France have been manipulating, more specifically, implanting false memories into the brains of sleeping mice. These scientists accomplished this by using electrodes to directly stimulate the activity of nerve cells to create false memories in association with specific triggers or stimulation. These artificial associative memories persisted as the mice slept and even influenced their behavior when they were awake. 

Over a year ago, a team of researchers used ‘opto-genetics’ to label brain cells which encoded for frightening memories. This technique helped them change positive memories into negative ones and negative memories into positive ones. Cells that encoded for positive and negative emotional memories were located by the team, and shortly after, they were also able to turn the memories on and off just like a light switch to a room in the house.

However, if it was not for Ramirez and Liu for their revolutionary discovery of finding these specific epigrams within the brain in 2010, the French researchers would have had a more difficult time making such monumental discoveries. Ramirez and Liu named the technique 'optogenetics'. The way that ‘opto-genetics’ works is by using lasers to stimulate genetically engineered cells which are designed to react to them. The team of researchers injected a biochemical mixture (which had within it a gene with a light sensitive protein which they called 'channel-rhodopsin-2') into the dentate gyrus of the brains of genetically engineered mice. This region, the 'dentate gyrus' is located in the hippocampus where memory is encoded.

The filaments, which worked similar to that of a conduit for a laser, were implanted into the skulls of the mice. To reactivate a memory, the researchers could do so by flooding certain neurons with a laser light. To provide evidence that they could in fact identify certain engrams, the memory which they reactivated was the one associated with fear. Once the experiment was over, they could examine the brain tissues of the mice under a microscope.

The examination under the microscope showed that specific memory glowed green from the injected chemical.  The engram that glowed was associated with an electroshock to the foot, and so triggered the startle or fear response. This revealed with engram was associated with fear. Another experiment then was set up. Once the biochemical cocktail was injected into the same area of the brain, the mouse was then placed inside a metal box. The mouse was allowed to explore the metal box, which was safe, for roughly 12 minutes without problems. The following day, the mouse was placed in a different box but this time, it received electric shocks instead.

Since this is an experiment, the variables were different for each box, as the boxes differed in color, shape, and scent. The next day the mouse was placed inside the 'safe box' or the first box once more allowing for the mouse to remember that it is the safe box once more. However, this time the researchers placed a foot shock memory using the laser which ignited the fear response in the mouse.

Overseas, French researchers implanted electrodes into the medial forebrain bundle of the brains of 40 mice. The medial forebrain bundle or MFB (for short) is responsible for the reward circuit. The electrodes were also implanted into the area of the hippocampus known as the CA1 area. Here, three different cell types exist which encode memories for navigating through our environment (aka: Spatial Navigation)

Researchers observed the mice as they wandered their surroundings and monitored neurons located in the hippocampus whenever they found place cells. These cells would then fire when the mouse was in a specific location or  what the scientists called ‘place field’. In the first experiment the researchers timed the electrical stimulation of MFB in correspondence to these specific neurons firing off a given place cell. The paired stimulation protocol created a false associative memory in these five animals.

The mice linked MFB stimulation with the place field encoded by the cell, which subsequently spent 4- to 5-times more time in that specific location than two control mice who received MFB stimulation that did not coincide with place cell firing. The cells that were placed in the brain to replay their activity patterns during sleep as well as to strengthen newly formed memories. There is a strong possibility that it promoted the formation of new synaptic connections.

*More research is needed to know for sure what the place cells are doing during this period of ‘replay’ or how the ‘replayed activity’ may be related in any way to their navigational functions. *

Additional experiments were performed on these five sleeping mice. Having established which were the ‘place cells’ as the mice traveled and wandered their surroundings, they were allowed to sleep so that the researchers could pair the firing neurons to specific stimulations of the MFB.

When they woke up the mice headed directly for the specific place field which was given to them by the researchers. They also spent the most time in these place fields. On the other hand, mice that were given ‘random’ MFB stimulations (i.e. the control mice) and paired with the firing of a place cell, either while awake or during sleep, wandered around aimlessly. They showed no preference for any specific area. These results reveal the importance of place cells in guiding navigation to goals and that these cells encode the same type of information during sleep as they do when the animal is awake which is important for navigation.

These findings have also given scientists clues for the process that the sleeping brain takes in strengthening new memories. The majority of the simulations which created the false memories were observed during the slow wave stages of sleep. Subsequently, this shows that the oscillatory activity patterns (aka: Sharp Wave Ripples) are necessary for memory consolidation during sleep.(C)

To do this, the scientists conducted a highly invasive procedure in which they implanted recordings and stimulating electrodes into the brains of the mice. (It is unlikely that such a procedure would be performed on humans except under very special circumstances. i.e. experiments performed during pre-surgical evaluation of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.)

Controversy:

Director of Center for Neuroscience at Boston University, Howard Eichenbaum is recreating longer and larger memories. The goal is to erase painful memories such as PTSD, depression, and many other psychiatric disorders. Then there are possibilities for Alzheimer's disease in reversing the memories with are lost to the disease. Some researchers even suggest that it could help people who suffer from substance abuse disorder which might allow them to forget about their addiction. 

However, it is difficult not to question whether the body would still experience cravings and withdrawals even if scientists were able to erase such memories. Memories make us who we are both the painful and the happy ones. Once we, humans, begin to choose which memories we want to experience we would not be who we are, what makes us different and unique from each other. As our memory is the glue which holds our identities together, wouldn’t erasing a memory, even a bad one, indelibly erase a portion of the person themselves? Though painful, our negative memories define us.

From the many written articles on this topic, the goal of the scientists is not to erase but to rewrite a memory in such a manner which promotes mental health. For example, individuals who are crippled by depression on a daily basis, overwhelmed with PTSD from traumatic events such as war memories or painful childhood memories. So, it is clear to see that the intent is from a good place. 

There are also many cases where individuals are convicted when innocent and then exonerated later due to DNA testing. Implanting false memories in witnesses to change the outcome of trials is another concern because it might lead to a new, ruthless way to tamper with evidence and witnesses. The question then becomes, when Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind becomes a reality, if we can erase the memory of an ex from the past, do the lessons learned from this experience are lost as well?

Such an accomplishment could possibly lead to state control, sovereignty of ones own mind, and such a procedure under a totalitarian regime could manufacture false patriotism, even wipe clean the memories of revolutionaries in order to make them loyal to the state.

The ability to actually do this is thought to be four to five decades away. Yet the federal research group DARPA says it is a mere four years from a brain implant capable of altering PTSD-related memories. Theoretically, such technology could be used to silence dissent. Meanwhile, a psychology professor at New York University, Dr. Gary Marcus, has proposed inserting a microchip into the human brain to allow for a human-internet interface, making the mind a search engine as well as improving one’s memory. Perhaps you could backup files to prevent tampering.

But wouldn’t it also allow a hacker to say hack your brain? An important ethical dialogue must begin now. A superstructure and strict protocol must be erected. And yet, chances are those operating outside of its boundaries may still violate it. Though this technique shows promise, strong regulation and oversight must be enacted to prevent human rights violations and miscarriages of justice. For where we are right now on manipulating memory and the moral implications.

Concluding Remarks:

Stress and sleep deprivation make people more susceptible to false memories which has major implications for 'enhanced interrogation techniques'.  Attaining a better understanding of the workings of brain activity such as what causes the formation of false memories will help future scientists discover more mysteries of the brain as well as possibly discovering ways to make people less prone to false memories. Creating new memories in more effective ways is also in the near future.

Links:
(A)http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/meet-two-scientists-who-implanted-false-memory-mouse-180953045/?no-ist
(B)http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/scientists-have-discovered-how-to-implant-false-memories
(C)https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2015/mar/09/false-memories-implanted-into-the-brains-of-sleeping-mice

*Please note! These images are not mine. They were found on various tumblr sites! If any are yours please let me know so that I can give you credit for them! Also the people in the images have no relation to the diseases, illnesses, or cancers I write about. Thanks so much & enjoy~