Artificial association of pre-stored information to generate a qualitatively new memory

Noriaki Ohkawa, Yoshito Saitoh, Akinobu Suzuki, Shuhei Tsujimura, Emi Murayama, Sakurako Kosugi, Hirofumi Nishizono, Mina Matsuo, Yukari Takahashi, Masashi Nagase, Yae K. Sugimura, Ayako M. Watabe, Fusao Kato, Kaoru Inokuchi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

84 Scopus citations

Abstract

Memory is thought to be stored in the brain as an ensemble of cells activated during learning. Although optical stimulation of a cell ensemble triggers the retrieval of the corresponding memory, it is unclear how the association of information occurs at the cell ensemble level. Using optogenetic stimulation without any sensory input in mice, we found that an artificial association between stored, nonrelated contextual, and fear information was generated through the synchronous activation of distinct cell ensembles corresponding to the stored information. This artificial association shared characteristics with physiologically associated memories, such as N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor activity and protein synthesis dependence. These findings suggest that the association of information is achieved through the synchronous activity of distinct cell ensembles. This mechanism may underlie memory updating by incorporating novel information into pre-existing networks to form qualitatively new memories.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)261-269
Number of pages9
JournalCell Reports
Volume11
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Artificial association of pre-stored information to generate a qualitatively new memory'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this