I found these articles extremely interesting to read, however
it was hard for me to see a strong correlation between the two of them. The Ramirez
2013 article was more along the lines of seeing if it was possible to elicit
reactions from false memories, while the 2015 article was using the activation
of positive memories in order to reduce depressive symptoms. While they both
used the idea of activating neurons that are correlated to a positive or
negative experience in order to see their result, the second article was more
about the activation of these memories rather than proving they exist. So, to
me these articles are used as an extension of one another, the first being used
to prove the occurrence and activation of false memories, while the second
being the application of these positive memory activations in response to depressive
symptoms. With that being said, I found the 2013 article really dense and
difficult to read, which may be the main reason why it is difficult to see a
more direct connection between the two.
Out of these two articles my favorite was the 2015 edition,
specifically because it is possible to see how the optogenetic controls of
positive memories on depressive symptoms may influence real people, instead of
just mice models. In the future it could be possible to use this to help humans
with depressive symptoms who may not be responsive to other forms of treatment.
In particular I was interested in figure 4b-d. All of these three graphs show a
non-significant result between the non-stressed controls and the stressed group
previously given a positive memory for five days. There was a significant
different between the control and the positive memory exposure of one day. This
shows me that in order to elicit a decrease in depressive behaviors, the
individuals have to be exposed to a positive memory for five days prior. And
while it takes five days in mice to see this result, that raises the question
on how long this memory acquisition process would take in humans who are
arguably more cognitively developed.
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