Is It Possible To Erase Your Memories?

Science suggests it's possible to erase specific memories. But even if we can, should we?

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Could someone actually erase your memories?

First, let’s look at what a memory is, and how these things form. At the most basic level, memories form when proteins cause our brain cells to form new synaptic connections between neurons. The emphasis here is on connections, rather than a single spot. So a recollection isn’t stored in one specific cell of your brain. Instead, it’s tangled up in these various connections between these neurons.

And, despite how static they may feel, memories are not stable. Sure, you can revisit your first day at a job, or school, or the time you the love of your life. But every time you do, that memory becomes malleable again, resetting more vividly than before.

Each time you remember something, your brain has to “resave” some version of that memory. It’s like you’re taking a piece of hard chocolate out of a refrigerator and holding it in a warm room, or with your warm hands. When you put it back in the fridge, it’s changed, even if just a bit, from exposure.

This is known as ‘reconsolidation.’ And the more often you revisit a memory, the more it changes. Your brain reassesses its connections, literally rewiring itself.

So, let’s say, for example, that you have an unpleasant memory. Maybe you were bit by a spider during your childhood. And every time you remembered this spider bite, you also remembered the pain and fear of the experience, strengthening that connection in your mind. Eventually, just thinking of spiders in general could leave you terrified and quaking in fear.

But don’t feel doomed just yet. It’s possible to tilt the scales during every single act of recollection. Numerous studies indicate that using a drug called propranolol to block your body’s norepinephrine can ‘dampen’ traumatic memories, leaving the details while removing the overwhelming emotional associations.

One particularly fascinating study found that injecting mice with this substance could break their fearful associations between musical tones and subsequent shocks.

Norepinephrine, by the way is a chemical involved in the “flight or fight” response that people get.

This line of research isn’t quite capable of creating the sci-fi amnesia we see in films like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” but it could be an invaluable treatment for trauma survivors. This leads us to several wide-reaching implications – some of which are disturbing.

First, scientists do believe it’s possible, with the right combination of drugs and treatment, to target and erase specific memories. The primary obstacle, so far, seems to be ethical rather than procedural. Second, healthy people may try to take these treatments simply because they want to erase something.

And one last thing: there’s a reason our memories exists. As painful as some recollections may be, they can also function as tools of survival. To paraphrase the old saying: what’s the point of forgetting the past if it means you’re doomed to repeat it?

Thanks for watching! And hey, here's a question: if you could erase a memory with an injection, would you do it? How do you think this technology will be used in the future? Let me know in the comments and remember: stay tuned for more BrainStuff.

SOURCES:

[ScottKorin]

Did I watch this already? I don't remember.

[WetJet]

How do I volunteer, my head is a mess of memories I’d love to forget. Maybe I can finally live again

[Mekratrig]

Arr you kiddink? I've been waiting for this drug for most of my life. Would use it in a flash.

[togwam]

I really want to kiss my childhood traumas away for good

[ElectricNights]

Erasing memories would be beneficial for people who went through serious traumas, like war, cult, sexual harassment survivors who suffer from serious post-traumatic stress disorder, it would help their rehabilitation by cleaning their sub-conscious and therefore not being lead by traumatic sad thoughts. However, I think that as a society we should not erase the memory that there had been a war, a cult act or sexual harassment case, that caused serious suffering to people, in order NOT to repeat them.

[firstname]

I have a couple of memories that I’m not proud of and some memories that are just annoying if there’s a way to erase them I would do it in a heartbeat.

[kkll]

I just want to erase my memorys of watching that tv show so i can watch it again

[moisesmacias]

Came here cause I heard Jake Paul's new song

[volico]

Even if the invention of this kind of technology could be scary when you consider what the wrong hands can do with it, imagine what this could do for child abuse victims.

[timbert]

My mind does a good job of erasing traumatic memories anyway, but like you say in the video it does not remove the emotional component. If I could erase the emotional components that give me nightmares and panic attacks with an injection I'd do it, but I'd want to keep the memory as a lesson.

[norma]

I would like to erase the memory of being bullied at school but that would mean I should erase all my school years too, erasing everything I learned. I don't know if it's worth it. Of course, being bullied destroyed my self esteem but if I don't remember the past I could live my life being too naive and could get hurt by people because I trust them.

[Schmidteren]

Love your last statement. The excact message of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Such a beautiful movie! I am a sucker, yes I would erase alot of shit. xD

[airo]

Rewatching favorite movies as if it was the first time.

[TiihoPlays]

I wouldn't use a brain wiping drug. Who I am today is made up of memories of who I was and what I've been through. To change even the smallest thing could radically change who I am now. And I like me.

[CJBurkey]

If you mess with the words on your shirt, it says "you know stuff they don't want to." Just thought I'd say that lol.

[MetAxa]

I absolutely positively would go for erasing my memories.
I was abandoned by my mother
Physically, emotionally and psychologically abused by my step mom and kicked out of the house for being stuck in a blizzard on my way coming home from a spring break trip I had permission to go on
She hated/ hates me because I look like my birth mother who couldn't care less about me.
I was the ugly friendless girl at school
I have been beaten up in several relationships. Arrested twice after a couple of the assault when I was just trying to leave and I didn't even hit anyone.
I witnessed my fiances suicide 4 days after Christmas 2009.
I have been kidnapped in the past and was beaten, drugged and raped for 3 and a half weeks.
The guy was never a boyfriend or even a friend
He was a creepy kidnapped.
The cops did absolutely nothing.
A person who I considered an adopted brother tried to strangle me to death after my Dads funeral
The guy punched me in my face, broke my molar and a few weeks later he strangled me and broke my back helping another guy with stealing my car and animals.
Again the cops did nothing and denied me a restraining order because he was never in a romantic relationship with me, didn't live with me and wasn't a blood relative.
I got my car back 4 months later
4 of my animals died in the "care" of these people.
The cops refused to help.
5 days later my best friend was murdered by his son.
I self harm. I hate myself and am only happy when I am sleeping.
I have taken drugs, drank to the point of alcohol poisoning and beaten my skull on things trying my best to forget most of my life.
You bet I would do about anything to forget all this.
Counseling has done nothing.
Amnesia would be the only help for someone like me, or Alzheimer's disease.

[Charles-igfr]

I used to think it was as easy as "we are the sum of our memories." By that standard, I would have said: no, wouldn't use this. But since its now clear our memories change over time (as do we), the whole issue of "changing who I am" doesn't seem as implicitly bad as it once did. Honestly, if I could arrange it so that every ten years or so my memories become like reading someone else's journal entries (i.e. no longer feel like they are 'really' my memories), I think I would be cool with that. Keep the experience gained, lose the sense of attachment.

[leopaschall]

I want to forget about some extremely dark philosophy.... if a pill ever does come out for it, would it erase the memory or only erase the emotions associated with it? because I would do ANYTHING to forget it.

[BlackRose]

i wann't to erass every thing about my life so i can finally live a new life and i cna finally start a happy life

[gmdavid]

I want this technology to come to light.