memoriesAt the most basic level, the brain creates memories through connections between nerve cells using a phenomenon called “synaptic plasticity”.  In a paper in this month’s Science journal, researchers at UCLA and McGill University have, for the first time ever, photographed live memory creation.

The researchers used sensory and motor neurons from the sea slug Aplysia Californica that can form connections in culture. The neurons were stimulated with serotonin, which strengthens the synapses, and allowed them to detect new protein synthesis—the making of a memory— using a “translational reporter,” a fluorescent protein that can be easily detected and tracked.

There’s a great quote from one of the researchers, Kesley Martin:

“While this was not really surprising to us given the complexity of information processing in the brain,” said Martin, “visualizing the process of protein synthesis at individual synapses, and beginning to discern the elegance of its regulation, leaves us, as biologists, with a wonderful sense of awe.”

1536.pdf (application/pdf Object).