Are Memories Transferable — or Edible?
Six decades ago, behavioral psychologist James McConnell wanted to prove that worms could learn. He did, using a series of somewhat gruesome experiments that culminating in feeding worms other worms. (Sorry, worms.) This turned into a bit of a cultural Thing, with McConnell going on talk shows, calling himself “McCannibal,” and publishing a zine called The Worm Runner’s Digest. And then . . . the worms stopped learning. What happened? Claire L. Evans checks in with the scientists who are trying to figure that out, her usual curiosity and low-key wit in tow.
McConnell closed his laboratory in 1971, and his long period of subsequent obscurity was broken only once, in 1985, when he became a victim of the Unabomber. (He lost his hearing temporarily after the blast.) He died in 1990. If a younger generation of scientists is familiar with his cannibal planarians, it’s as “a cautionary tale that neuroscientists tell to their students at bedtime to scare them away from ill-fated projects,” Gershman said.
Still, McConnell’s unconventional work and contrarian attitude has lingered in neuroscience lore, and the idea of memory transfer remains a subject of private fascination. What if McConnell really did manage to feed a memory to a worm? For Gershman, who is searching for a way to study memory at a molecular level and connect it to observable behavior, the question was an itch that had to be scratched. He decided to settle the matter once and for all.
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六十年前，行为心理学家詹姆斯·麦康奈尔想要证明蠕虫也能学习。他做到了，通过一系列略显残酷的实验，最终以蠕虫吞噬其他蠕虫告终。（抱歉了，蠕虫们。）这演变成了一种文化现象：麦康奈尔上脱口秀节目，自称“麦食虫者”，还出版了一本名为《蠕虫奔跑者文摘》的杂志。然后……蠕虫不再学习了。发生了什么？克莱尔·L·埃文斯带着她一贯的好奇心和低调的幽默感，走访了试图揭开谜底的科学家们。
麦康奈尔于1971年关闭了他的实验室，此后长期默默无闻，只在1985年短暂打破沉寂——他成了“炸弹客”的受害者。（爆炸后他暂时失去了听力。）他于1990年去世。如果新一代科学家知道他的食人涡虫实验，那更多是“神经科学家在睡前讲给学生听、用来吓唬他们远离不祥项目的警示故事”，格什曼说。
尽管如此，麦康奈尔离经叛道的研究和反叛态度仍在神经科学界流传，而记忆转移的想法始终是一个私下令人着迷的话题。如果麦康奈尔真的将一段记忆喂给了蠕虫呢？对于正在寻找方法从分子层面研究记忆、并将其与可观察行为联系起来的格什曼来说，这个问题成了一个必须解开的痒处。他决定一劳永逸地了结此事。
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