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Imagine if we could enhance good memories for those suffering from dementia and wipe away bad memories for people with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Researchers have taken a step toward the possibility of tuning the strength of memory by manipulating one of the brain's natural mechanisms for signaling involved in memory, a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
Brain mechanisms underlying memory are not well understood, but most scientists believe that the region of the brain most involved in emotional memory is the amygdala. Acetylcholine is delivered to the amygdala by cholinergic neurons that reside in the base of the brain.
[...] For a new study published in the journal Neuron , researchers used a fear-based memory model in mice to test the underlying mechanism of memory because fear is a strong and emotionally charged experience. They used optogenetics, a newer research method using light to control cells in living tissue, to stimulate specific populations of cholinergic neurons during the experiments.
Two findings stand out. First, when they increased acetylcholine release in the amygdala during the formation of a traumatic memory, it greatly strengthened memory—making the memory last more than twice as long as normal. Then, when they decreased acetylcholine signaling in the amygdala during a traumatic experience, one that normally produces a fear response, they could actually wipe the memory out.
"This second finding was particularly surprising, as we essentially created fearless mice by manipulating acetylcholine circuits in the brain," Role says.
Sounds reminiscent of how they erased memories in the Philip K Dick film adaptation, Paycheck.
[Acetylcholine has been implicated in addiction to alcohol and nicotine; see, for example, Alcohol and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (abstract) and full article (pdf) -Ed.]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Friday May 13 2016, @06:37PM
If you read the article, it becomes clear that it's much more a case of either the bad memories not forming in the first place, or the memories forming but in a non-traumatic manner.
There's nothing in the article that suggests that this would, for example, be useful for PTSD treatment. There's nothing in there about erasing already-established memories. At absolute most this might be useful for preventing inducement of PTSD in the first place by doing something to soldiers just before, during, or immediately after battle -- and that's of course, assuming a safe and effective treatment regimen could be developed. But it'd be irrelevant to PTSD victims whose traumas were unpredictable.
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2016, @06:46PM
There's nothing in there about erasing already-established memories.
My bartender has a solution for that. He calls it "another".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2016, @09:52PM
Ganja?
https://www.medicaljane.com/2014/03/21/us-health-department-approves-clinical-trials-for-cannabis-post-traumatic-stress-ptsd/ [medicaljane.com]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3739026/ [nih.gov]
(Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday May 13 2016, @10:11PM
Actually this might be useful in PTSD cases. There have been some recent studies that indicate that a memory is not "fixed", as in doesn't/can't change once formed. They found indications that every time we remember something instead of just being played back the memory gets rewritten each time, so something that changes how traumatic a memory is perceived as could prove useful in treating PTSD and other issues caused by a memory being highly intense. This would also explain how a persons recollection of something changes over time as each time they recall something the mind can change and edit what they remember.
If this new research can eventually be used to reduce the intensity of recalled memories it could help a huge range of people, not just those with PTSD. Time will tell.
I didn't think to bookmark the studies so I can't provide any citations. Sorry. You'll just have to trust my memory :P
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday May 14 2016, @04:57PM
Well, there's no need to trust your memory if you know how to use a search engine. ;-)
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/20/when-memories-are-remembered-they-can-be-rewritten/ [nationalgeographic.com]
http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/02/how-your-memory-rewrites-the-past.html [northwestern.edu]
http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/events-news/Elizabeth_Phelps_Fear.html [nyu.edu]
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-21/edition-7/time-rewrite-your-autobiography [bps.org.uk]
Of course I can't tell which of the studies you actually saw.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Friday May 13 2016, @10:25PM
If you read the article, it becomes clear that it's much more a case of either the bad memories not forming in the first place, or the memories forming but in a non-traumatic manner.
There is a way to get to therapy, even though the article doesn't mention it. Let me point you to research from a couple of years ago on drugs that weaken traumatic memories [sciencedaily.com].
It turns out that recalling memories is a read-then-write-back process, and so drugs that supress memory formation or weaken the emotional load attached to memories as they form are useful as an addition to exposure therapy [va.gov]. The study I linked to above showed that (in the mice tested) administration of the right drug can improve the rate at which previously-trained flinch reactions are extinguished compared to exposure therapy alone.
I haven't heard that the drugs have been approved yet for clinical use, I imagine it takes a while to go from rodent tests to routine use for human therapy. When I saw this article I thought it was a progress report on the previous drug; instead it appears to be a similar investigation into a different neurochemical pathway.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]