Circuit Tweak Boosts Social Memory in Mice

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NIMH 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.

[Source: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) YouTube link]