Memory transfer

Memory transfer was a biological process proposed by James V. McConnell and others in the 1960s. Memory transfer proposes a chemical basis for memory termed memory RNA which can be passed down through flesh instead of an intact nervous system. Since RNA encodes information[1] living cells produce and modify RNA in reaction to external events, it might also be used in neurons to record stimuli.[2][3][4] This explained the results of McConnell's experiments in which planarians retained memory of acquired information after regeneration. Memory transfer through memory RNA is not currently a well-accepted explanation and McConnell's experiments proved to be largely irreproducible.

In McConnell's experiments, he classically conditioned planarians to contract their bodies upon exposure to light by pairing it with an electric shock.[5][6] The planarians retained this acquired information after being sliced and regenerated, even after multiple slicings to produce a planarian where none of the original trained planarian was present.[6] The same held true after the planarians were ground up and fed untrained cannibalistic planarians, usually Dugesia dorotocephala.[7][6] As the nervous system was fragmented but the nucleic acids were not, this seemed to indicate the existence of memory RNA[6] but it was later suggested that only sensitization was transferred,[5] or that no transfer occurred and the effect was due to stress hormones in the donor or pheromone trails left on dirty lab glass.[2] However, other experiments seem to support the original findings in that some memories may be stored outside the brain.[8][9][10]

References
  1. Tan, Loh Teng-Hern; Ser, Hooi-Leng; Ong, Yong Sze; Khaw, Kooi Yeong; Pusparajah, Priyia; Chan, Kok-Gan; Lee, Learn-Han; Goh, Bey-Hing (2020). "Reckoning the Unresolved Scientific Question on Memory Transfer". Progress in Drug Discovery & Biomedical Science. 3. doi:10.36877/pddbs.a0000105.
  2. Bob Kentridge. "Investigations of the cellular bases of memory". University of Durham. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  3. McFarling,STAT, Usha Lee. "Memory Transferred between Snails, Challenging Standard Theory of How the Brain Remembers". Scientific American. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  4. Dave, Shivani (2018-05-14). "'Memory transplant' achieved in snails". Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  5. William L. Mikulas. "Physiology of Learning". University of West Florida. Archived from the original on 2017-11-27. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  6. "The memory-transfer episode". www.apa.org. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  7. James, McConnell (1965). "A Manual of Psychological Experimentation on Planarians" (PDF). The Worm Runner's Digest: 5, 7 – via https://www.tufts.edu/.
  8. Duhaime-Ross, Arielle (17 September 2013). "Flatworms Recall Familiar Environs, Even after Losing Their Heads". Scientific American. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  9. Shomrat T, Levin M (2013-07-02). "An automated training paradigm reveals long-term memory in planaria and its persistence through head regeneration". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 216 (20): 3799–3810. doi:10.1242/jeb.087809. PMID 23821717.
  10. Tan, Loh Teng-Hern; Ser, Hooi-Leng; Ong, Yong Sze; Khaw, Kooi Yeong; Pusparajah, Priyia; Chan, Kok-Gan; Lee, Learn-Han; Goh, Bey-Hing (2020). "Reckoning the Unresolved Scientific Question on Memory Transfer". Progress in Drug Discovery & Biomedical Science. 3. doi:10.36877/pddbs.a0000105.
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