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Deep brain control of memory

thought of as a relay centre that transmits sensory and motor inputs to the cortex for processing, or that transmits information from one part of the cortex to another. In 2017, three groups made the unexpected discovery that the thalamus also has a key role in short-term memory — specifically, in maintaining the recurrent patterns of cortical activity that underlie memory. However, the genetic basis of this role for the thalamus remained unexplored. Writing in Cell, Hsiao et al. reveal that the gene Gpr12 is key to thalamic maintenance of short-term memory. Their findings will have relevance for many fields, from cognitive therapeutics to artificial intelligence. Perhaps one of the biggest scientific challenges of our time is explaining how intelligent behaviour arises in both natural and artificial systems. Resolving this question will have practical applications. For natural systems, it could allow us to describe and correct behavioural disorders with unprecedented precision. For artificial systems, it would enable safe distribution of agents that will enhance many aspects of our lives, from controlling self-driving cars to fighting misinformation. Many parallels can be drawn between the two system types, but there are also many differences. For instance, unlike a typical artificial system, the mammalian brain contains organized networks of tight reciprocal connections between two distinct components — the thalamus and the cortex. These two components have different internal structures: neurons in the cortex are highly interconnected, whereas thalamic neurons are not. In artificial systems, recurrent neural networks can produce short-term memory patterns. The cortex, at some level of abstraction, can be considered as a collection of recurrent networks that handles different types of short-term memory. So the question arises: why is a thalamus needed in the midst of all of this? An understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate thalamocortical circuits might help us to tackle this question. But identifying genes associated with cognitive processes is hard, because genetic mapping requires many repeated measurements, which can be difficult to obtain from behavioural studies. Hsiao et al. used an innovative approach to overcome this obstacle, making use of a method called quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis that can link traits (such as eye colour, height or propensity to develop a given disease) to specific locations in the genome, or even to specific genes. The team tested the working memory of mice using a simple behavioural task — a maze test, in which the animals explored arms of a T-shaped maze at will. If they chose to explore arms they had not previously visited, they passed the test, whereas if they returned to familiar arms, they failed. The authors found that performance varied between mouse strains, which they reasoned might be partly Cognition