Remembering the pleasant moments of our lives helps us feel better, however, the role of positive memories can be more powerful than you think, because in addition to promoting the regulation of emotions, they have a positive effect on stress-induced depression.
Scientists conducted an experiment with mice in the lab and determined that artificial reactivation of memories stored during a positive experiment can suppress the effects of stress-induced depression. Let’s not talk about this anymore.
- The work that demonstrated the relationship between positive memories and depression.
- Published in the journal Nature.
- Was done by scientists from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics.
- In collaboration with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute of Japan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The research was conducted in the laboratory of Susumu Tonegawa, director of the RIKEN Institute of Brain Sciences and professor at MIT, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1987 for discovering the diversity of antibodies. The study tried to find out if a positive memory could crush a negative.
To answer the question, genetic engineering was used to create mice in which memory cells in a region of the brain, called the dented convolution, could be marked during memory formation and then reactivated with an optical fiber that emits blue light. implanted in the same place Later, the research team would activate the memory cells created in previous experiments.
To test the system, male mice were exposed to a positive experience (exposure to a female mouse) and a memory of this event was formed, then the mice were exposed to a stressful experience that led them to a state similar to depression. while the mice were depressed, lights were used to stimulate dented convolution and reactivate cells from positive experience.
Surprisingly, this experience resulted in a strong resumption of the depressive mood of the mice to which this technique was applied; In addition, the mapping of the brain circuit of this effect revealed two other areas of the brain that cooperate with the dented convolution to activate positive memories. : the accumbens nucleus and the basolateral amygdala.
On the other hand, to examine whether this type of recovery from depression could include persistent changes in brain circuits that remain even in the absence of light stimulation, researchers provided chronic light therapy to the dented convolution for more than 5 days. that this ensured the continued revival of positive memories.
Mice who received this therapy were resistant to the negative effects of stress-induced depression, suggesting that the storage of positive experiences in memory can be used to suppress or cancel the negative effects of stress on behavior, which is a new way to conceptualize mood control. .
Although little is known about the interaction of positive and negative experiences and related memories, these findings open the door to new approaches to mood disorder therapy.
The authors say it is too early to conclude whether positive memories in general can mitigate the effects of stress-induced depression; however, they are another possibility to research and develop treatments to combat depression.