Researchers showed the 1958 Orsen Welles film noir “Touch of Evil” to mice and observed their brain activity to learn how neurons form memories. This is groundbreaking because, according to the textbooks, mice should not show any interest in such a movie. But the scientists found that there were mysterious bursts of activity in the hippocampus, the part of the brain known to be crucial for learning and memory.
Not only that, but every part of the brain they investigated, from the visual cortex to the GPS circuits, lit up robustly in response to specific movie scenes. This is a major paradigm shift in how scientists can study episodic memory in mice, which could help diagnose memory and AI research.
Even more exciting is that the findings could help diagnose Alzheimer’s and other memory diseases. Although dozens of drugs have cured Alzheimer’s in mice, none have worked in humans. But this study could help address a missing component in research for memory diseases.
Dr. Purandare, the study’s lead author, said that creating events for mice that would closely mimic events familiar to humans is a major challenge. That’s why they turned to movies. In this study, nearly half of the neurons in the rodent hippocampus encoded specific, small segments of the film, showing a remarkable response to the events on screen.
Dr. Purandare explained:
“Although dozens of drugs have cured Alzheimer’s in mice, none have worked in humans. One reason is that the standard test of episodic learning and memory is spatial navigation in mice. However, Alzheimer’s patients have profound deficits in non-spatial memory too – e.g., a conversation or an event they witnessed, which is unrelated to GPS navigation.”
The study was supported by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and research at the Allen Institute. The authors have declared no competing interest. This is a major step forward in research and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
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In-Article Image Credits
Healthy brain compared to a brain suffering from Alzheimer's Disease via Wikimedia Commons by National Institutes of Health with usage type - Public Domain. October 13, 2011Featured Image Credit
Healthy brain compared to a brain suffering from Alzheimer's Disease via Wikimedia Commons by National Institutes of Health with usage type - Public Domain. October 13, 2011
