As the rats performed the task, the scientists carefully monitored the electrical activity in each creature’s hippocampus to find the pattern of nerve-cell activity involved in making a solid memory.

　　Using the same glass needles they had used to record the nerve activity, they stimulated (刺激) nerves in the same pattern and found that the animals’ performance in the task got even better. The rats made fewer errors and were able to remember which lever was the“correct”one for a longer period of time.

　　The scientists went a step further and suppressed the rats’ memories with a drug called Mk801, which caused them to forget their task. When the animals’ brain cells were later stimulated with the“correct”pattern, they remembered again which lever to press.

　　“What’s really exciting about this study is that when they played back the‘good’ patterns—the patterns when the animal got the task right—it did appear to improve memory,”said Dean Buonomano, an associate professor at the University of California.

　　The final goal, Berger said, is to help people with stroke(中风) and epilepsy(癫痫症) and the like strengthen memories and to help doctors treat them. The technology might even help sufferers of post-traumatic(创伤后) stress disorder.

　　But first, researchers would have to show that they can stimulate or suppress far more complex memories than the ones in the rat experiment.

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