Nathan E Botts / Thursday, February 4, 2016 / Categories: Mental Health Circuit Tweak Boosts Social Memory in Mice Circuit Tweak Boosts Social Memory in MiceNIMH scientists have boosted the staying power of a social memory in mice at least 80-fold by stimulating a brain circuit they discovered. A male mouse that would normally forget a female mouse it has just met within hour instead remembered it at least a week later. Curiously, the memory boost only worked if the male received the stimulation during the animals' first encounter. This line of research may someday lead to new treatments for impaired social memory, as occurs in dementia and some mental illnesses. For more information, See: NIMH Science Update Circuit Tweak Boosts Social Memory in Mice http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2016/circuit-tweak-boosts-social-memory-in-mice.shtml Targeted activation of the hippocampal CA2 area strongly enhances social memory. Smith AS, Williams Avram SK, Cymerblit-Sabba A, Song J, Young WS. Mol Psychiatry. 2016 Jan 5. doi: 10.1038/mp.2015.189. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:26728562 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26728562 Credits: Video: In case of love at first sight, break glass - Bloemenbureau Holland https://youtu.be/T4jzDVqwZxY Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode Video of brain scans: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) – National Institute on Aging https://youtu.be/YqNYZCOPBY4 Music: Jupiter Vinyl - I've Just Seen A Face (Beatles song) live https://youtu.be/KvLmWOLlLSw Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Photo: In Love - Josefina Herrera Flickr 170739189_222877fd62_o.jpg Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcodeLink to original article Previous Article Louis Sokoloff - Pioneer of PET Scanning Next Article Connecting Emotions, Brain, and Behavior with Wearables — Dr. Rosalind Picard Print 388 Rate this article: No rating 0Upvote 0Downvote Leave a comment Name: Please enter a name. Email: Please enter an email address. Please enter a valid email address. Comment: Please enter comment. Add comment