Is there a way to get an adult to remember the events that happened to him shortly after birth? Scientists aren't sure about humans, but some progress has been made with rats. American scientists have proved that in rat pups, early childhood memories do not disappear forever, but are stored in the brain. They can even be extracted using the right incentive.
People do not remember anything that happened to them before the second or third birthday. Some scientists explain this phenomenon, known as "infantile amnesia," by the very rapid growth of the brain in early childhood: new neurons are constantly appearing, and memories do not have time to form. Other theories suggest that the infant hippocampus - the part of the brain responsible for memory - is simply not sufficiently developed to function properly. However, a study by Alessio Travaglia of the University of New York proves that these theories are wrong.
Travalia conducted experiments on rats, which, like humans, are characterized by infantile amnesia. If a young (17 days old, which is equivalent to a 2-3 year old human baby) rat is struck by the wall of the cage, the memory of this event (and with it the fear of the wall) will disappear during the day. Starting from the 24th day of life, the memory of dangerous places is preserved for several days. However, the memories of 17-day-old rat pups, lost after a day, can be restored if, at the right time, the animal is shown the cage in which it has learned to avoid the wall that shocks, and the shock is repeated.
By itself, a new electrical discharge does not form a new memory of danger. In Travalia's experiments, the control groups of "naive" rats (that is, those who had never been electrocuted at all) did not remember anything. But the rat pups, who were taught to be afraid of the current at the forgetful 17-day age, very quickly remembered where not to go, after such a "reminder".
In rat pups, memories are retained for a long time only after 24 days of life
The conclusion from Travalia's work is as follows: in baby rats, everything is in order with the hippocampus. Even at a very young age, he forms and retains memories. They can even be retrieved from the depths of memory if a suitable stimulus is found. The scientist believes that human memory can be arranged in a similar way. And if this is so, then the person can be forced to remember his early childhood.
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During an experiment with rat pups, scientists also compared the composition of proteins in the hippocampus and found that one of them - the BDNF protein - is able to protect early memories from infantile amnesia. In theory, it is possible to use this or a similar protein to protect early memories and human babies, Travalia said. However, science is not yet ready to test such techniques on humans, the researcher notes.
Travalia's colleagues are cautious: “We must bear in mind that the brains of humans and rats are very different in many ways, and the results of experiments with rodents cannot be transferred to humans,” warns Jonathan Lee of the University of Birmingham, UK.
The research results are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.