D-brief‘s Lacy Schley notes an interesting experiment in memory in sea slugs. The researchers trained some sea slugs to react in a certain way to shocks, then …
RNA representation. Source: Wikipedia
The researchers then extracted ribonucleic acid (RNA) — the cellular messenger that carries out the genetic instructions of DNA — from the nervous systems of both the shock and non-shock groups. They took this RNA and injected it into a third set of slugs that hadn’t had to deal with any shocks or taps. Seven of these slugs got the shock group’s RNA, seven got the non-shock-group’s RNA.
Next, the team tapped these RNA-injected slugs on their tails. Those that had received the shock group’s RNA responded almost exactly like the shock group: They recoiled for about 40 seconds.
“It was as though we transferred the memory,” [team lead David] Glanzman said in a press release.
It’s fascinating, but raises the complicated question of kinds of memory. Why? Schley notes Glanzman’s findings are at odds with most theories and suppositions about memory:
Most neuroscientists would agree that memory, particularly long-term memory, is something that lives in the synapse — the gap between neurons. But this study, combined with Glanzman’s previous work, suggests the nucleus, where RNA carries out its DNA transcribing, could be the key to decoding how memories are stored.
There’s an implicit suggestion that all memories work on the same mechanism. But what if they don’t? This memory theory discussion needn’t be an exclusive or situation, but possibly parallel mechanisms.
