Posted on 08/28/2014 10:14:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
Bad memories could be reversed after scientists discovered the part of the brain which links emotions to past events
Bad memories of past trauma can leave people emotionally scarred for life.
But now neuroscientists believe they can erase feelings of fear or anxiety attached to stressful events, in a breakthrough which could help treat depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Researchers at MIT, US, have discovered which brain circuits attach emotions to memories, and crucially, how to reverse the link.
They managed to ‘switch off’ feelings of fear in mice which had been conditioned to feel anxious. It is likely the same technique could be used in humans.
“In our day to day lives we encounter a variety of events and episodes that give positive or negative impact to our emotions,” said Susuma Tonegawa, Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at the Riken-MIT Centre for Neural Circuit Genetics.
“If you are mugged late at night in a dark alley you are terrified and have a strong fear memory and never want to go back to that alley.
“On the other hand if you have a great vacation, say on a Caribbean island, you also remember it for your lifetime and repeatedly recall that memory to enjoy the experience.
“So emotions are intimately associated with memory of past events. And yet the emotional value of the memory is malleable. Recalling a memory is not like playing a tape recorder. Rather it is like a creative process.
“The circuits seem to be very similar between human and mice when it comes to memory formations and the emotions of memories. So a similar technology could be available for humans.”
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I'm more concerned about how this and subsequent Orwellian administrations will use it when they get us into Room 101.
Erasing positive emotions of memories that the state wants to override is a terrifying possibilities.
Love your family? America's Constitutional history? Your lover? Bye Bye. Now you will only love Big Brother.
I clicked on this topic 4 times already. Why am I here?
It'll be easier than 12 years of publik ejacation, and 4 years of post high school indoctrination.
Bad memories are part of what makes us who we are and they’re also a learning tool.
I think I’ll keep my bad memories, regrets and all.
BINGO
That these genius scientists missed this fatal flaw in their “work” is truly amazing even given current standards!
Maybe they can put all your “memories” in a syringe and inject it into the brain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_%281998_film%29
I can see a black market spring up around this technology....................
I’d do anything to reverse the memory of watching that dreck.
Remember?
There was a shooting in a cinema?
I don’t recall...................must have been erased................
Yeah, it wasn’t as good as the one with Arnold in the 90’s. And it was bad......................
That’s about mice, and the mice don’t know how to talk to us to explain how they feel/think.
It is the depth of ultimate stupidity to think that this can be applied to humans.
Dumb and dumber-you could have people walking into dangerous situations repeatedly until they self-destruct-but if they’re producing mice that don’t remember what happens if they walk into a cat’s grasp, my three felines would like for me to order a few for their amusement...
Article written at the second-grade level. Very annoying. There are no specifics.
This?
...
you get your memory wiped...
now your no longer afraid of groups of black teens or dark alleys..
you walk down a dark alley again... and guess what? a group of black teens robs you AGAIN!
rise, repeat, ad infinitum !
This sounds suicidal.
There is the old saying those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
It would be a denial of the African-American experience/culture.
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