LAB

The experiment described in LAB is very much real!

The description of the chick pecking at specific beads is a psychological process called a one-trial passive avoidance learning task. The "slightly radioactive liquid" described in the scene  correlates to a chemical called memantine. Here is a link to the full text of a study that uses the same methods described in LAB.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074742712000305

Researchers found that memantine actually improved memory. These types of studies are generally done to research aliments like Alzheimer's, Dementia, and other diseases of memory. Memantine has already been approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's. Memantine usually inhibits the creation of memory but the study found that under stress the chemical actually the formation of memory.

 I'd like to point out are that the chicks used in this experiment were a day old and that the description of the experiment in LAB is accurate.