Neuroscientists say they have succeeded in planting false memories in mice.
Researchers include Japanese Nobel laureate Professor Susumu Tonegawa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others from the RIKEN research center.
They say they have found a way to stimulate rodents' brain cells with light in order to reactivate prior memories.
The researchers put the mice in a chamber to form a memory of the place.
The mice were then introduced to a different chamber where they received a mild electric shock. At the same time, the researchers used light to activate the cells containing the memory of the previous chamber.
When the mice were placed back into the first chamber they froze in fear even though they had never received a shock there.
