Scientists have successfully used lasers to swap out bad memories for good ones.
Scientists have successfully used lasers to swap out bad memories for good ones.
The lucky recipients of the doses of good vibes were several male lab mice.
Researchers went into the experiment with the intention of changing the mice’s associations with a place from pain to pleasure.
As they were trying to turn sad into happy, they had to start off by making the subjects miserable.
Each test animal was delivered a shock and set loose in a tiny box. Every time they wandered into a particular corner, the part of their brain that was storing the shock memory was activated by a laser.
Not surprisingly, the mice started to avoid going into that corner.
In an attempt to turn that correlation around, the male specimens were introduced to a group of frisky female mice.
During their dalliances, the bad memory place was zapped repeatedly.
By the time they returned, laser-free, to the box they weren’t afraid of the corner any more.
That’s because the scientists had successfully displaced their negative feelings with positive ones.
While the science has the potential to be adapted to humans, it’s unclear if it ever will be due to numerous ethical concerns.