DailyDirt: Memories Are Not As Reliable As They Used To Be

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Nov 4th 2013 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Normally, when we remember something, we can estimate how reliable our memory is -- but not always. Sometimes it's hard to know if a particular memory is actually true. Our brains can forget details and fabricate things to fill in the gaps. More and more psychological studies seem to suggest that our memories are far more flexible than we might like them to be. Implanting fake memories isn't as hard as it sounds, and in the future, the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind might seem less far-fetched. Here are just a few things you might want to remember about remembering.

The Tet1 gene has been found to be critical to the process of "memory extinction" which allows older memories to fade. If this gene can be controlled, there could be gene therapies for dealing with traumatic memories (or other situations where enhanced memory extinction would be desired). [url]
Most people generally believe that traumatic experiences are especially unforgettable and memories formed under duress are the most accurate memories -- but most people are wrong. Memories -- even traumatic memories -- can be manipulated, and hundreds of studies involving thousands of subjects show that all kinds of memories can change and be mis-remembered. [url]
Drug addicts could someday be treated with a kind of memory manipulation. A study of former heroin users re-trained these addicts to "forget" various cues that might trigger cravings for heroin, and the positive results could potentially be applied to other addictions. [url]

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Filed Under: brain, forgetting, gene therapy, memory, memory extinction, ptsd, remembering

8 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2013 @ 5:55pm

If we choose what we can forget....
We might choose to do horrible things and then forget that we did them.
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steell (profile), 4 Nov 2013 @ 8:38pm

I have no complaints, my memory is so good I remember things that never happened.
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- Bengie, 7 Nov 2013 @ 10:37am
  
  Re:
  They did, just in a different universe.
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Binko Barnes (profile), 4 Nov 2013 @ 8:52pm

Every person I've ever met massively underestimates the degree to which the subconscious mind re-organizes and alters perceptions and memories in order to protect and bolster the self.

People tend to think of the mind as some kind of computing device that calculates things and stores memories. In reality it is an organ that has evolved with one purpose - to protect it's host and make it feel secure, even if it means warping our view of reality.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2013 @ 1:53am

Wrong title !!
It should say, "Memories are not as reliable as what you remember them to be"
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Nov 2013 @ 5:55am

more "Homer" !!
Homer: It's 5 years later and I still think I'm a chicken, I'm a chicken Marge!
Marge: I know I know."
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aldestrawk (profile), 5 Nov 2013 @ 7:58am

stress and memory
The linked article about traumatic experiences and memory is incorrect. I haven't read anything by the psychologist whose research the article is about, so it might be the author, and not the psychologist, got things a little wrong. Research in neurophysiology shows that stressful events are more memorable as stress hormones increase the ability of the hippocampus to lay down new memories. That doesn't mean that those memories are particularly accurate and this is where the confusion might have originated.
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Anonymous, 5 Nov 2013 @ 6:51pm

Remember, remember...
The fourth of November? Nah, it just doesn't have the same ring to it.
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