We tend to think of our memories as dependable guides to the past — but the truth is, many studies have found that our memories change over time. Our brains constantly edit our memories to rearrange events and change dialogue; and our emotional memories of events are often colored by the way we feel about those events today. Now, researchers studying mice have discovered that memories can be broken down into component parts — the emotional part separated from the factual part — and that the emotions associated with a memory can be transferred to a totally different memory.
MIT neuroscientist Roger Redondo and his team started by gathering a sample group of genetically engineered mice. The mice’s brains were engineered so that, if an antibiotic known as doxycycline was removed from their diet, certain neurons in their brains would express a protein called channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) which triggers neural activity ...
