Total Recall: Why You Are So Sure It Happened, Even Though It Didn't

This animal study demonstrates a possible biological mechanism for false memories.

We know that memory can be unreliable, and we can feel certain that events are real although they never occurred. To artificially associate a fear reaction with unrelated contexts, researchers experimentally manipulated specific cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in mice that were genetically manipulated to allow tracing of activated neurons. A foot-shock fear-conditioning paradigm was used to produce the fear reaction (freezing).

Using optogenetics (a method of using fiber-optic light to activate specific brain areas; NEJM JW Psychiatry Jun 27 2013), the investigators induced a light-activated memory of a context (A). They then fear-conditioned the mice to novel context B, while activating the cells labeled in context A; when re-…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Total Recall: Why You Are So Sure It Happened, Even Though It Didn't

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Reviewing Author