Memory trace represents the formation of memory and expeiments in Drosophila done contradicts the idea that memory is formed in the way the data is stored in the computer.
Shaping of memory is a dynamic process. It helps us to retrieve information from different areas of the brain.
Dr. Ron L. Davis, professor of Molecular and Cellular biology at Baylor college of Medicine (BCM) , reports in the journal Cell that memory trace (It is a chemical change in the tissue representing the formation of memory) in Drosophila is formed in the dorsal pair medial neurons only after 30 minutes mediated by the gene amnesiac but lasted for two hours, but in the earlier reports the changes were immediate an lasted for five to seven minutes.This experiment is first of its kind done by Davis and his colleagues. Memory trace was first loaded in the fly’s antennal lobe it is here that the odors are processed. The flies are trained to relate an odor with an electric shock.
The fascinating thing is that memory trace occurs only in one branch of the dorsal pair medial (DPM) neuron. The researcher feels that after training, the behaviour is mainly guided by the antennal lobe in the first few minutes. The findings question the commonly held idea that memory is formed in a way the data were stored in a computer, in the same location. The researchers now feel that after training different areas of brain have dominions over small time intervals.
