MIT neuroscientists silenced a tiny region of rats’ prefrontal cortex for just seconds, and an ingrained habit stopped controlling their behaviour almost immediately. But the habit had not vanished—it remained hidden and later returned, suggesting this region acts like a switch deciding which stored behaviour runs on autopilot.
Source ↗
👁 0
💬 0
The rat had learned the maze so thoroughly that a tone could send it left or right without the value of the destination seeming to matter anymore. Then yellow light reached a tiny patch near the bottom of its medial prefrontal cortex. Within seconds, the old routine stopped dictating the turn.
This was an optogenetics experiment in ten rats, published in 2012, not a human study and not a technique for switching off an unwanted behavior in everyday life. Its value was narrower and more revealing.
This was an optogenetics experiment in ten rats, published in 2012, not a human study and not a technique for switching off an unwanted behavior in everyday life. Its value was narrower and more revealing.
Comments (0)