Scientists are figuring out how to locate and eviscerate the worst moments of your life.
Can we pick and choose which memories to keep?
The current issue of Neuron features a new study on selective memory erasure. It comes from a group of Chinese researchers, led by Joe Tsien, who have successfully targeted and destroyed specific memories in mice. Now, there’s a possibility that they will adapt their method for human use.
In fact, a team of scientists that includes Roger Pitman, a psychiatrist at Harvard, and Karim Nader, a neuroscientist at McGill, is already much farther along in the effort to reshape human memories. Last year, they published findings suggesting certain drugs might be able to affect the way in which traumatic events are remembered if administered shortly afterward. Now, they are looking for a way to refashion memories even years after they were created. Recently they received a grant from the Department of Defense, which has a vested interest in their line of research, as more and more American troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The researchers discovered that reactivating memories in mice with excessive amounts of a particular enzyme caused the memories to be destroyed.
Though their methods are different, the Chinese researchers are capitalizing on the same thing as Pitman’s team: the relatively recent discovery that memories are not written in permanent ink.
We forget the vast majority of things that happen to us. Experiences must be processed and reprocessed in order to become long-term memories. Now research shows that even those memories we do hold on to are subject to revision every time we recall them.
Here’s an example: Four years ago, let’s say, on a hot August morning, you were walking down the street, rushing to make the light, and arguing with your mother on your cell phone. Something caused this episode to stick with you—maybe you found $50 on the sidewalk, or maybe you unconsciously associated it with summer in New York. But when, four years later, you are reminded of it, it is possible that you will inadvertently revise the events of that morning -- your mother was there with you, for instance, or it wasn’t August, it was April, and unseasonably warm.
John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. He writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Kevin Buckley was a reporter and Saigon bureau chief for Newsweek between 1968 and 1972. He is the author of Panama—The Whole Story (Simon & Schuster, 1991). He is a contributing editor of Playboy and an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Michael O'Hanlon specializes in national security policy at the Brookings Institution. He is senior author of the Iraq Index. As a defense budget analyst, he advised members of Congress on military spending.
Abby Ellin regularly writes the "Vows" column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the "Preludes" column for that newspaper about young people and money. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
Casey Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University. She has previously written for The New York Sun and ABC News. Currently, she's working on a book about the brain world.
This is just like "Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" come to life. But, really, wouldn't taking away our memories change who we are and temper how we see things the way they are now?
I just hope memory-erasing never becomes widespread. Experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. If we can just take away all our bad memories, then what are we left with? Or maybe a better question is, who are we left with? I really disagree with this - it's not time travel, it's simply an easy way out from something we just don't want to deal with, as far as I'm concerned.
It probably would change who we are and the way were see things, which is why in one of those old Start Trek movies -- the one where Spock finds a half-brother who is front for some random creature at the center of the galaxy which removes painful memories and makes people happy -- Capt Kirk says something about needing all his memories from the bad to the painful because they make up who he is and would not change that for the world.
Also, I would think that removing the memories would not remove the effects of the stress those memories caused if not removed quickly enough, Oddly enough, in an earlier Star Trek episode Spock anticipates this when he removes Kirk's memories of some painful romance. (Ignore the internal inconsistancy.)
I think, in general though, that the less memories removed the better and the more understanding of how to remove the crippling impact of emotions the better. Of course I could be wrong....
Hmmmm. I am way ahead of these scientists, having discovered a much more effective way of eradicating my memory.
It's called smoking mad herbs. Check it ou.
your dad is so proud of you.
hmm....I wonder if they ever experimented on Alberto Gonzales, what a terrible memory!
"Recently they received a grant from the Department of Defense, which has a vested interest in their line of research, as more and more American troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder."
If the DoD is involved you can be sure the "vested interest" has wider connotations. Enough said.
Just another example of science without a head. This research will almost certainly be targeted for use on the masses- for example, to reinvent the history of this latest administration of the USA. It is an unfortunate fact that most scientists develop new technologies because of the challenge. Some will convince themselves that their contribution will help the world. Very few are sufficiently honest or motivated to honestly and seriously acknowledge the high likelihood that their work will be used in nefarious ways- even when, as in this case, it is obvious. We strive to be able to erase memories because we want to see if we can do it. You know, there are so many people with memories of very horrible and painful experiences. We can offer them a new level of Prozac- a view that life is wonderful, and that pian is a Hollywod concoction. The next step will be to devise a drug to temporarily cause a person to follow orders without question. So, after bludgeoning peaceful protesters into oblivion, the sweet memory erasure drug can be administered and all's well in the Shire. As long as scientists choose willful ignorance of the potential consequences of their contributions, they are complicit- even as the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. I used to have respect for scientists. Then I became one, and have learned that intellect merits no respect; especially when it is disconnected to a sense of ethics an concern for others.
I won't even address the DoD's interest in this, other than to insist I very much doubt it has anything to do with concern over returning soldiers.
Though in a case where someone is witness to, say, the murder of their entire family, this research (and it IS fascinating) could be of great benefit in the short term. When my strong and brilliant husband died after a year and a half cancer fight, emaciated, unable to speak, wetting himself, I was unable to function normally for quite some time.
But what is normal? Is it returning to your job the next day? Or is it normal as humans to suffer and mourn and hopefully go forward? I don't know.
That is something I will leave to the philosophers.
I'm a great believer and proponent of pure science, but much like free market economy, we need ethics.
And perhaps the broader realization that what could help one person, could hurt society.
My heart shudders to think of what our children returning from this immoral war have seen, but if we alter those memories, can we advance to peace? Or are we forever to repeat our mistake again and again?
For those of us who seriously and desperately need something like this, changing who we are is EXACTLY the point.
Due to the trauma, molestation, and other abuse I received at the hands of my Father, I have since been unable to have a successful and "healthyl" loving relationship, or hold down a job for any length of time. I have spent the past twenty years in and out of myriad laughing acadamies for the bewildered and have been treated by countless psychiatrists and therapists as well as every psychotropic drug and treatment on the market, and yet nothing has helped me to break the cycle of my suicidal and self-destructive behaviour; not to mention my self-loathing and absolute disgust at having to live.
So, yeah, personally I wouldn't mind "a bit of harmless brain alteration"! (And I'd bet there are a few soldiers returning from our two wars who would agree with me.)
Where do I sign up?
My psychiatrist has successfully used a form of this treatment (Propranolol and Lorazapam) to help me cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I began using the medication during extreme panic attacks - when I was too frightened to breath. Trust me, there is no "me" present to lose during these attacks, just sheer unending terror, which includes no movement, thoughts nor associated choices.
I trained my brain to remember to take the pills as soon as I became congnizant of an impending attack and to know that I would feel this way for about 20 minutes. I could not think nor keep track of time, but it was a "measure," or a way of occasionally knowing something during the event. At a certain point my mind would notice a little something like breathing, although I would have to leave it alone until I could think again.
I write "trained my brain" and "mind noticed" because there is no me involved in these events.This difference between thse two feelings is that I was capable of a single driving thought in my brain at the start of the episode and eventually I became capable of sensation, which my mind noticed. It was the beginning of feeling again.
This disorder has led to a Dis-associative Personality Disorder, which causes me to objectify my own body. Recently, I collapsed on the street, gasping for breath and was taken by ambulance to hospital. I was very pleased to see that my body was falling apart, not my mind.
The Attending Physician, a unique being in my experience, asked me my if there had been anticipatory signs. When I told her that this was the fourth or fifth event, she ran tests and tried to help me begin to consider that my body was being destroyed by my brain.
While my post may appear overly wordy and lengthy, I have carefully chosen every word. I have not been able to give an articulate account of these experiences before, and believe this may be testimony to a personal miracle.
The panic brought on by the hint of memory is a far greater force in my life than the "I." Indeed, there is no "I" when in life when mind, body and spirit are crushed by this horror. Having a memory without suffering is helping me discover just how to have memories.
I am in process, still am a troubled soul, but during my last attack I not only took medication but chose to hide under my blanket.
Now, that is progress.
PS Being too flip has been a mistake as the I have triggered enough memories to start an attack. Please learn from this make it worth it. Thank you.
No one is speaking of eradicating memories. The point is to make a person's extant memories endurable. There are too many of us who are lost in a form of hell for me not to respond to the number of posters who are missing the point.
Not needing a Prozac vision, not in mourning, not having had an experience that can be "unlearned" or "forgotten." No experiences can be eradicated. Forget about the DOD.
This work can help soldiers returning from war with unspeakable horror implanted in their minds. We too want to help the soldiers. And children who have witnessed or participated in barbarous acts. And those who have been battered, tortured physically or mentally, witnessed evil.
Who are fragile, who are lost, who are broken, who are so overwhelmed that they don't have experiences. They have to collective set of memories that make them who they are.
These people are locked in and can not stand life itself. Please try to understand the people these studies have can't have any experiences at all. Some can't leave their homes, read, sleep, talk to people, because the terror controls their lives. The fear is constant and the overwhelming anxiety is real.
If this medication can help them start to have thoughts that are not controlled by terror, they will be able to have the very experiences of life that gives it texture and flavor.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.