article_snippet: The team, led by Karim Benchenane, focused on place cells - which are neurons that fire in response to thinking about, or being in, a specific place – and help animals and humans form internal maps.
article_snippet: While the mice slept, the mice monitored the creature’s brain activity and when the specific place cell fired, an electrode stimulated the brain areas linked to reward.
article_snippet: When the mice woke up, the mice immediately scurried to the location that was linked to the rewarding feeling, showing that a new pleasant memory of the place had been formed by the scientists.
article_snippet: Experts think that if subconscious learning has been forced on the mice while Experts slept, Experts would have explored the area in a more random way, instead of heading straight to the place Experts associated with reward.
article_snippet: The mouse develops a goal-directed behaviour to go towards the place,’ Dr Benchenane said.
article_snippet: It proves that it's not an automatic behaviour.
article_snippet: What we create is an association between a particular place and a reward that can be consciously accessed by The mouse.
article_snippet: The study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
highlights_snippet: Focused on place cells - which are neurons that fire in response to thinking about, or being in, a specific place - and hijacked the 'replay' process .
  