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Boston University professor and neuroscientist Steve Ramirez promoted his new book, which dives into his experiences with grief after the death of his research partner and explores the science of memory manipulation, in the Science Center on Monday.
The talk, hosted by the Harvard Book Store in collaboration with Harvard University, centered on Ramirez’s book “How to Change A Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past,” set to release on Tuesday.
Ramirez’s research attempts to define the brain’s mechanisms of storing and retrieving memories. His lab has successfully manipulated the memories of mice through brain cell stimulation.
During the talk, Ramirez discussed the sudden loss of his long-time research partner, Xu Liu, who died during the publication process of their paper that explored how reactivation of positive memories abated symptoms of depression in mice. After Liu’s death, Ramirez said the meaning of memory in his research became “terrifying and magical all at the same time.”
“It goes from impossible to handle, to slowly trying to make sense of that which we can’t really make sense of, to what does this mean to me and how can I find some kind of purpose as a person, to help let someone into your life but in memory form now?” he said.
“I learned from there just how much making new memories can really be a way of addressing something as ephemeral and intangible as grief,” he added.
His experience made meaningful the potential impact of the three papers that he co-authored with Liu on the manipulation of memory in mice, which Ramirez detailed during Monday’s talk.
Their first study, which Ramirez said is his favorite, proved it possible to photoactivate — or reactivate using light — memories.
These findings, which attracted attention from the public, raised new questions for the team.
“We can reactivate a memory, but can we change the contents of a memory now? Can we try to warp a memory and pull off an ‘Inception’-like feat?” Ramirez said.
Their second experiment answered these questions. The researchers were able to substitute locational information associated with shock and non-shock treatments within the memories of mice by reactivating environmental conditions like light corresponding to these locations.
Next, the pair dove into researching the impact of brain cell activation on combating mouse depression symptoms. By activating positive memories, they found they were able to ameliorate anhedonia — the inability to experience pleasure from activities that are typically enjoyable — specifically by stimulating their appetite for substances mice normally enjoy.
“Reactivating a positive memory reverts the animal's behavior back to how healthy animals are behaving in this test,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez analogized this effect by discussing a method he uses to overcome his fear of public speaking.
“It's been shown that if you really actively recall positive memories, your heart rate goes back to normal,” he said.
For Ramirez, the positive memories he recalls before a stressful event revolve around Boston sports.
“I would actually go back and re-watch the clips of the Pats winning the Super Bowl,” he said.
After Liu’s passing, Ramirez struggled with alcohol addiction while dealing with his grief. Ramirez recalled brainstorming for his book with “drink after drink.”
“My relationship with drinking went from zero to abysmal pretty quickly,” he said.
While becoming sober, Ramirez kept a notebook documenting the journey. He took his last drink almost five years ago, he said.
“You either give up drinking and get to keep everything, or you give up everything and you get to keep drinking,” Ramirez said.
