Controlling monkey brains and behavior with light
Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 13:01
in Psychology & Sociology
Researchers have for the first time shown that they can control the behavior of monkeys by using pulses of blue light to activate particular brain cells. The findings represent a key advance for optogenetics, a state-of-the-art method for making causal connections between brain activity and behavior. The researchers say that similar light-based mind control could likely also be made to work in humans for therapeutic ends.