"Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it." — Michel de Montaigne

Dork Phrenology Helmet (from: Type Desk)

"[...] New research out of the U.S. holds out the hope of a superhuman assist for failing memories — and a badly-needed new therapy for Alzheimer's patients.
     The study by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston — led by neuroscientist and former McGill University postdoctoral fellow Mauro Costa-Mattioli with contributions from a couple of Canadians — found suppressing a molecule called PKR in the brains of mice improved the rodents' memory function and learning abilities. [...]
     In one type of test, the mice used visual cues to find a hidden platform in a pool. It took days of repetition for the regular mice to remember where to find the platform, while the mice without PKR learned after one try."
— Hilary Roberts, PostMedia News
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"'When you look back at painful memories, is it just as raw?' [Lesley] Stahl asked.
'Sometimes it'll be as though it happened yesterday. Sometimes, it's as though it happened last week,' [Louise] Owen said.
     Just the mention of a sad day, like the one in 1986 when Owen learned she'd have to change schools, and she relives it emotionally. 'I felt like my whole world was collapsing. And you say that and it's like all of a sudden I feel like this really heartbroken little 13-year-old all over again,' she explained.
     She said the feeling was vivid and awful, even after all these years. 'I mean, my heart is actually pounding right now in telling you this,' she told Stahl.
     She says her memory is a gift, but there are definitely downsides.
     'Sometimes, having this sort of extreme memory can be a very isolating sort of thing. There are times when I feel like I'm fluent in a language that nobody else speaks. Or that I'm walking around and everybody else has amnesia,' Owen explained."
— CBS News
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"Researchers at Harvard and McGill University (in Montreal) are working on an amnesia drug that blocks or deletes bad memories. The technique seems to allow psychiatrists to disrupt the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to be recalled.
     In a new study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the drug propranolol is used along with therapy to 'dampen' memories of trauma victims. They treated 19 accident or rape victims for ten days, during which the patients were asked to describe their memories of the traumatic event that had happened 10 years earlier. Some patients were given the drug, which is also used to treat amnesia, while others were given a placebo."
— LiveScience
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See a related article here...

war on drugs

From: Reanimation Lbrary

"The Pentagon hasn’t come close to solving the PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder] crisis plaguing the current generation of troops. And the top brass looks like it’s ready to try anything — like a major push into a cutting-edge, controversial realm of treatment. One that’d see military personnel popping a pill to wipe away the fear they associate with traumatic memories. [...]
     Of course, the idea of using drugs to tweak memories isn’t without controversy: An online debate flared last year among two camps of neurologists and neuroethicists, arguing over whether the existence of such drugs would 'alter something that makes us all human,' or open a Pandora’s Box of illicit use 'by people doing things they’d like to forget themselves, or that they would like others to forget.'”
— Katie Drummond, Wired
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"The field of memory-altering drugs has been marching forward for years, and we’ve seen several recent developments that can change our recollection of fear or trauma. In one example, rats given a brain injection had their fears extinguished; in another, researchers recently learned that a drug that suppresses stress hormones can interfere with the formation of negative memories.
     These types of drugs would have several uses, like helping military personnel overcome post-traumatic stress syndrome and return home to lead healthy lives; helping crime victims rehabilitate; and treating psychological disorders that might stem from some type of childhood trauma.
     But many ethicists argue these kinds of drugs should not be developed. People have memories for a reason, and changing or erasing them alters something that makes us all human. Not to mention that a tool that can erase memories could easily be abused by people doing things they’d like to forget themselves, or that they would like others to forget."
— Rebecca Boyle, Popsci
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"It would be hard to imagine improving on the intelligence of computer engineer Bjoern Stenger, a doctoral candidate at Cambridge University. Yet for several hours, a pill seemed to make him even brainier.
     Participating in a research project, Stenger downed a green gelatin cap containing a drug called modafinil. Within an hour, his attention sharpened. So did his memory. He aced a series of mental-agility tests. If his brainpower would normally rate a 10, the drug raised it to 15, he said.
     'I was quite focused,' said Stenger. 'It was also kind of fun.'
     The age of smart drugs is dawning. Modafinil is just one in an array of brain-boosting medications — some already on pharmacy shelves and others in development — that promise an era of sharper thinking through chemistry.
     These drugs may change the way we think. And by doing so, they may change who we are."
— Melissa Healy. LA Times
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