Video Supplement to "The Memory Code"
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
This video shows how the response pattern of neurons in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in a mouse changed in response to cage shaking. The plot at right was generated by what is called multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), a pattern-recognition method.
The colored "bubbles" represent the signals recorded from the CA1 region by electrodes when the animal was in different states, such as resting (gray) or undergoing shaking (pink). As the movie runs, the initially resting animal undergoes the equivalent of an earthquake and returns to rest; meanwhile, the multicolored ribbon reflecting its CA1 activity at a particular moment jumps from the gray bubble to the pink one and back again.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
