Mice who have learned to lick a waterspout in response to a visual signal can perform the action without seeing such a cue if the neurons activated by the signal are instead stimulated with light, according to a paper in Science today (July 18). Similar results were reported in a recent Cell paper last week (July 11). The approach taken in the papers could help researchers tackle questions of how perception is encoded in the brain, scientists say.
“[The approach] is a significant step forward in our ability to manipulate the activity of neurons in a specific manner,” says Shaul Hestrin, a behavioral neuroscientist at Stanford University who was not involved with either study, “and the results are very promising.”
The way the brain identifies and interprets external stimuli and then executes appropriate behaviors remains largely a black box. It is known, for example, that following certain visual stimuli, distinct ...
