Scientists thought forming a memory was easy.
The study was led by a team at the University of Southern California who managed to capture images of a memory. The scientists worked with genetically engineered zebra fish, a species that makes for easy study because they are naturally transparent in the larval state.
The team expected the brain to restructure its neural pathways slightly, but instead found major development in neural connections.
Scott Fraser, co-author of the paper, told the publication that it may be the equivalent of a solid-state drive.
The zebra fish were taught to associate light with being overheated. The zebra fish began to swim away when they saw the light, and Fraser's team imaged the fish before and after to capture the fluorescent markers that were genetically engineered into the fish to highlight its brain activity.
The type of memory may affect how the brain stores it. Since the USC team created fearful memories, they may help us understand why traumatic responses are so difficult to overcome.
Some of the results are not perfect, according to scientists who spoke to Quanta. It's difficult to imagine how a complex process like the fear processing center in the brain can be understood by human brains. If the team really wants to help trauma survivors, they will need to do more testing to understand how different brains work.
A professor of psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand told the outlet that there is a lot of synaptic reorganization as a result of experience during development.
Scientists say they have figured out how to grow new bone using sound waves.
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