當我們記憶時，單個神經(jīng)元會針對特定的記憶

Individual Neurons Target Specific Memories When We Remember, Study Shows

研究表明，當我們記憶時，單個神經(jīng)元會針對特定的記憶。

Neuroscientists have discovered a curious aspect of how our memory works. When your brain needs to recall information that's related to a specific location, individual neurons can actually target specific memories.

神經(jīng)科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)了我們的記憶如何工作的一個奇怪的方面。當你的大腦需要回憶與特定位置相關的信息時，單個神經(jīng)元實際上可以針對特定的記憶。

"A key feature of memory is our ability to selectively recall particular experiences even if they occurred in a setting shared with other events," the researchers explain in a new paper.

研究人員在一篇新論文中解釋說：“記憶的一個關鍵特征是我們有選擇地回憶特定經(jīng)歷的能力，即使它們發(fā)生在與其他事件共享的環(huán)境中。”。

"For example, if a person is asked to recommend a tourist itinerary for a city they have visited frequently, they can selectively recall distinct memories of locations from different trips to provide an answer."

例如，如果一個人被要求為他們經(jīng)常訪問的城市推薦一個旅游行程，他們可以有選擇地回憶不同旅行地點的不同記憶，以提供答案。

Researchers from several universities including Columbia University in New York and Emory University in Atlanta looked at the individual neurons - which they've dubbed 'memory-trace cells' - of 19 patients undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy.

包括紐約哥倫比亞大學和亞特蘭大埃默里大學在內(nèi)的數(shù)所大學的研究人員，研究了被稱為“記憶痕跡細胞”的單個神經(jīng)元——19名接受癲癇手術的患者。

The patients completed a spatial memory task where they were moved along a track in a virtual reality (VR) environment, and asked to press a button when they encountered specific objects (you can watch this process in the video embedded below).

患者完成了空間記憶任務，在虛擬現(xiàn)實(VR)環(huán)境中沿著軌道移動，并在遇到特定對象時要求按下按鈕(可以在下面嵌入的視頻中觀看此過程)。

In the recall part of the task, the researchers asked participants to navigate the track and mark the location of an object that had been removed.

在任務的回憶部分，研究人員要求參與者沿著軌跡走，并標記一個被移除的物體的位置。

Although this is a far cry from remembering what you did on your last holiday, the team did find some interesting results.

雖然這與你在上一個假期所做的事情有很大的不同，但團隊確實發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些有趣的結果。

While looking at the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and in particular the entorhinal cortex, the researchers found that the memory-trace cells were "spatially tuned" to the location, and could then retrieve the location-specific information the person needed to recall.

研究人員在觀察內(nèi)側顳葉(MTL)特別是內(nèi)嗅皮層時發(fā)現(xiàn)，記憶追蹤細胞被“空間調(diào)諧”到該位置，然后可以檢索到該人需要回憶的特定位置信息。

"Our study demonstrates that neurons in the human brain track the experiences we are willfully recalling and can change their activity patterns to differentiate between memories. They're just like the pins on your Google map that mark the locations you remember for important events," says Salman E. Qasim, a Columbia University biomedical engineer.

“我們的研究表明，人類大腦中的神經(jīng)元會追蹤我們隨意回憶的經(jīng)歷，并能改變它們的活動模式來區(qū)分不同的記憶。”它們就像你的谷歌地圖上的大頭針，標記著你記住的重要事件的地點，”哥倫比亞大學生物醫(yī)學工程師薩爾曼·e·卡西姆(Salman E. Qasim)說。

"This discovery might provide a potential mechanism for our ability to selectively call upon different experiences from the past and highlights how these memories may influence our brain's spatial map."

“這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可能為我們提供一種潛在的機制，使我們能夠有選擇地回憶過去的不同經(jīng)歷，并強調(diào)這些記憶可能如何影響我們大腦的空間地圖。”

This is all part of our spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about our environment and how to navigate it.

這都是我們的空間記憶的一部分，它負責記錄我們的環(huán)境信息以及如何導航。

Past research has already looked into how we can do this, finding that place and grid cells are very important to our spatial memory, working in a similar way to a GPS. Spatial tuning is the idea that individual neurons "activate to represent locations in the environment during navigation".

過去的研究已經(jīng)探討了我們?nèi)绾巫龅竭@一點，發(fā)現(xiàn)位置和網(wǎng)格單元對我們的空間記憶非常重要，其工作方式與GPS類似。空間調(diào)諧是指單個神經(jīng)元“在導航過程中激活以表示環(huán)境中的位置”。

"Previous work proposed that spatially tuned cells remap their firing patterns across different environments, so events that occur in different environments are associated with different spatial maps," the team explains in their study.

研究小組在研究中解釋說：“先前的工作提出，空間調(diào)諧的細胞會在不同的環(huán)境中重新映射它們的發(fā)射模式，因此發(fā)生在不同環(huán)境中的事件會與不同的空間地圖相關聯(lián)。”。

"Building on this work, we proposed that single neurons in the MTL, and particularly in the entorhinal cortex, would exhibit spatial tuning modulated by past experiences."

“在這項工作的基礎上，我們提出，MTL中的單個神經(jīng)元，尤其是內(nèi)嗅皮層中的神經(jīng)元，將表現(xiàn)出受過去經(jīng)驗調(diào)節(jié)的空間調(diào)節(jié)。”