Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Thanks to science, you can soon wipe out your worst memories
nypost.com ^ | February 10, 2016 | 3:29am | By Reed Tucker

Posted on 02/10/2016 10:38:19 AM PST by Red Badger

Imagine being able to erase your most traumatic memories. For a soldier, that would mean no longer being haunted by images from the battlefield. For a movie critic, no longer recalling having seen “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.”

It’s just one of the fascinating peeks into the mystery of the human mind chronicled on “Memory Hackers,” airing Wednesday at 9 p.m. on PBS’ “Nova.”

“Memory is an inherently interesting thing,” the show’s writer, director and producer, Michael Bicks, tells The Post. “You think you know what it is, but when you think about it, you realize that you don’t.”

Many of us assume that memory is like a faithful recording of our lives stored in our brains, persistent and unchanging.

Shockingly, that’s not the case. Researchers have discovered that memory is changeable. The act of recalling something alters it.

Forming memories actually causes a physical change in the brain — a seismic discovery made by Nobel Prize-winning ­neuroscientist Eric Kandel of Columbia University. When you create a memory, new synaptic connections grow between neurons in the brain. But each time you call up a memory, it must then be resaved like a file on your computer — and it gets modified in the process.

[SNIP]

Dutch psychology professor Merel Kindt has seemingly found a way to erase the emotional anxiety associated with bad memories without erasing the memories themselves.

Working with arachnophobes, she discovered that subjects who were given a drug called ­propanolol after being exposed to a spider were later able to handle the creatures without fear. The drug is believed to change the way a memory (in this case, terror associated with spiders) is resaved in the brain after being accessed.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Military/Veterans; Science; Sports
KEYWORDS: memories
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last

1 posted on 02/10/2016 10:38:19 AM PST by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Paging Cam Newton..............Please pick up on the red courtesy phone...........................


2 posted on 02/10/2016 10:38:48 AM PST by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Just off the top of my head, for me this falls under the “just because you can do it doesn’t necessarily make it a good idea” category.


3 posted on 02/10/2016 10:41:11 AM PST by V_TWIN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

4 posted on 02/10/2016 10:41:40 AM PST by freedomlover
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

I don’t believe it will work, anyways.............


5 posted on 02/10/2016 10:42:54 AM PST by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

So I can perpetually be a child?

Sorry, not interested.


6 posted on 02/10/2016 10:43:45 AM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

7 posted on 02/10/2016 10:43:56 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

After service: What’s this bill for? I don’t remember any memories being wiped out???


8 posted on 02/10/2016 10:44:08 AM PST by AndyTheBear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I didnt think this was news. I know for certain surgeries and other med procedures you might be given something similar so you dont recall pain.


9 posted on 02/10/2016 10:44:22 AM PST by 556x45
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

Bad experiences make one more cautious and are necessary for gaining wisdom. On the other hand some can be so traumatic that they ruin peoples lives. Very fine line to walk here.


10 posted on 02/10/2016 10:44:32 AM PST by RightOnTheBorder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”


11 posted on 02/10/2016 10:45:14 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Yeah, I think I saw a movie that was similar to this IIRC.


12 posted on 02/10/2016 10:45:25 AM PST by V_TWIN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: AndyTheBear

You pay in advance. Then they send you another bill afterward.


13 posted on 02/10/2016 10:45:37 AM PST by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

14 posted on 02/10/2016 10:45:43 AM PST by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Good I can forget the Will Muschamp era at UF.


15 posted on 02/10/2016 10:46:21 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard

Actually I think people NEED to remember those 2......NEVER forget.


16 posted on 02/10/2016 10:46:35 AM PST by V_TWIN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

If possible, this would get squashed by the homosexual activists, given that such a large percentage of deviants admit to being molested as children.

This treated would be outlawed for such purposes, just as the AMA declared homosexuality a non-disorder, unworthy of psychological treatment.


17 posted on 02/10/2016 10:46:54 AM PST by ConservativeWarrior (Fall down 7 times, stand up 8. - Japanese proverb)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DannyTN

Yep, that’s the one


18 posted on 02/10/2016 10:47:02 AM PST by V_TWIN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

(Points wand) “Obliviate”.


19 posted on 02/10/2016 10:47:03 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you really want to irritate someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

LOL! I ALREADY HAVE!.............................


20 posted on 02/10/2016 10:47:06 AM PST by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson