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Scientists implant "memories" into bird brains to teach them songs
- EndXA 7y agoAbstract of the original study: > Animals learn many complex behaviors by emulating the behavior of more experienced individuals. This essential, yet still poorly understood, form of learning relies on the ability to encode lasting memories of observed behaviors. We identified a vocal-motor pathway in the zebra finch where memories that guide learning of song-element durations can be implanted. Activation of synapses in this pathway seeds memories that guide learning of song-element duration and can override learning from social interactions with other individuals. Genetic lesions of this circuit after memory formation, however, do not disrupt subsequent song imitation, which suggests that these memories are stored at downstream synapses. Thus, activity at these sensorimotor synapses can bypass learning from auditory and social experience and embed memories that guide learning of song timing. From: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/83 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/83
- kkylin 7y agoAlso from a Perspective [1] in the same issue, which I also found useful: An imitation circuit Animals, including humans, rely heavily on imitation and social learning, yet we know little about how this process operates in the brain. Zhao et al. used optogenetic manipulation of a synaptic pathway connecting auditory and vocal motor circuits to implant song memories sufficient to guide song learning into young zebra finches (see the Perspective by Clayton). Activation of this circuit overrode learning from live tutors. These experiments define circuits essential for social learning of songs from tutors and show that such memories can be localized. [1] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/33 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/33
- ajit26000 7y agoxzXZ
- computator 7y agoThe article could leave the impression that the birds are watching the flashes of light, like watching TV. For a layman article, they failed to mention that brain of the bird has been cut open or probed and that the flashes of light are shone directly on the neurons.{1} I guess they thought it was too icky to make that clear. Optogenetics seems like a real breakthrough. Great quote from Wikipedia: "The far-fetched possibility of using light for selectively controlling precise neural activity was thought of by Francis Crick in 1999." {1} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics
- therealcamino 7y ago"We do what we must because we can."
- briga 7y agoIf I understand this correctly, it seems like the researchers were just stimulating vocal areas of the bird brains--which to me seems like an entirely different thing than implanting memories into the bird's brain. If you stimulate my motor cortex in a way that makes me kick my leg, it would be a little silly to say that you implanted a memory of me kicking--the memory is something that occurs after the fact. Maybe the original article makes this distinction a little clearer?
- Valmar 7y agoThe media loves their stupid clickbait. -.-
- SomeOldThrow 7y agoThis seems like a reasonable definition of implanting to me—it’s east to trivialize this with “just”, but intent to implant and visible indication of implanted behavior are both in place here. What mechanism would you expect implantation to look like?
- whycombinater 7y agoThere's an extremely large difference between tricking someone into thinking they're working for the other team by grafting on a pre-calculated memory of them being a Chinese agent for the last 20 years rather than ... making their finger move and saying that gave them a memory of their finger moving.
- SomeOldThrow 7y agoMaybe, I think it depends on your expectations.
- ebg13 7y ago> This seems like a reasonable definition of implanting "Implanting memories" must necessarily imply "...of something that didn't happen" for the expression to not lose all value. Touching you on the arm may cause you to remember being touched on the arm, but nobody calls that "implanting a memory of being touched" instead of "touching you". I think in this context the memory sounds more like muscle memory rather than conscious memory. So they're not lying per se, they're just not being as clear as they could be.
- ineedasername 7y agoThis just takes us one step closer to the avian overthrow of mankind predicted in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Or maybe just scientists messing with people to make them want to eat bird seed.
- ineedasername 7y agoThis technique is novel, but there are already established methods of implanting false memories in people, with children the most susceptible. A study [0] showed how easy it was to induce a false memory of hugging/shaking hands with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, which is impossible because there is no Bugs Bunny in Disney [0]http://staff.washington.edu/eloftus/2003Nature.pdf http://staff.washington.edu/eloftus/2003Nature.pdf
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- superkuh 7y agoThe avian equivalent of the basal ganglia has activity that goes up at the beginning and ending of discrete song segments. So they expressed light triggered ion channels in those brain regions to mimic the activity patterns of actual song and trains the birds to learn novel patterns they had never actually heard.