Finding the engram.

Authors

Sheena A Josselyn, Program in Neurosciences &Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada & Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3GM, Canada & Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada & Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada
Stefan Köhler, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, Natural Sciences Centre, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada & Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada
Paul W Frankland, Program in Neurosciences &Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada & Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3GM, Canada & Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada & Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2015

Journal

Nature reviews. Neuroscience

Volume

16

Issue

9

First Page

521

Last Page

534

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1038/nrn4000

Abstract

Many attempts have been made to localize the physical trace of a memory, or engram, in the brain. However, until recently, engrams have remained largely elusive. In this Review, we develop four defining criteria that enable us to critically assess the recent progress that has been made towards finding the engram. Recent 'capture' studies use novel approaches to tag populations of neurons that are active during memory encoding, thereby allowing these engram-associated neurons to be manipulated at later times. We propose that findings from these capture studies represent considerable progress in allowing us to observe, erase and express the engram.