The flick of a wand can alter memories in the Harry Potter universe. Wispy memories are extracted from Albus Dumbledore’s mind and placed in a Pensieve. He can see his former events with realistic clarity if he later submerges his head in that enchanted pool. In the meantime, Hermione Granger protects her parents from the wizarding world by removing herself from their memories using the spell Obliviate.
In the actual world, memories are not files or liquids that can be easily erased from a person’s brain. “It’s really hard for me to define memory,” André Fenton explains. At New York University in New York City, this neuroscientist conducts research on memory.
A person must have an experience to create a memory. This could be playing with a pet, riding a bike, or losing a tooth. According to Fenton, electricity then flows across the connections between the neurones, or nerve cells, in their brain. These connections may become stronger as a result of this electrical activity. A person’s connections get stronger the more they are exposed to an experience. Additionally, as time passes, these connections may deteriorate and cause amnesia.
It is still only a fantasy to have the ability to make someone forget something entirely or remember it flawlessly. However, some researchers have started working on ways to improve or impair people’s memory. Those with illnesses like Alzheimer’s may benefit from that work. People who have this illness may experience memory loss. Additionally, it may benefit those suffering from PTSD. People who suffer from PTSD may have memories they would prefer to forget.
Keeping memories safe
Robert Hampson, a neuroscientist, finds the Pensieve concept intriguing. The concept of being able to retrieve a memory, store it, view it, and analyse it excites him, he says. At Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Hampson does research on memory. It’s in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Like leftovers in miraculous dishes, he and his colleagues have failed to find a means to preserve prior experiences. However, they discovered that administering little electrical shocks to the brain may improve memory formation.
In one experiment, 17 epileptic patients had wires inserted into their brains that were roughly the thickness of a hair. (Because epileptics frequently had wires implanted in their brains to map and interpret their seizures, the researchers selected these patients.) The cables captured the electrical activity of the hippocampus’s brain cells. That is where memories are processed in the brain.
A picture on a computer screen was then viewed by the patients. After a few seconds, the screen displayed three distinct images in addition to the same one. Patients were asked to select the first image they saw. After 100 iterations of this procedure, they took a brief break.
Patients were then shown one hundred additional images. Among these were images they had viewed during the experiment’s initial phase. Additionally, there were images they had never seen before. The most familiar picture was asked to be touched by the patients.
According to Hampson, our brains experience electrical activity when we view a picture. However, this electrical activity varied for each image. When nine patients in the sample saw visuals, Hampson’s team examined the electrical patterns that resulted. The researchers may then replicate the patterns using mathematical formulas.
The other eight patients received small zaps from the researchers that replicated those electrical patterns. The patients’ recollections of images that were accompanied by the little shocks increased by 35 to 40 percent in visual memory tests. For images that weren’t associated with the zaps, their memory did not get any better.
Such little zaps could be delivered via brain implants in the future to improve memory. When this technology will be ready for general usage is unknown to the researchers. People with illnesses like Alzheimer’s would probably be the first users, according to Hampson. “Or from an injury to the head that damages the memory-related areas of the brain.”
Erasing memories
Meanwhile, some researchers are investigating the possibility of aiding individuals in forgetting certain memories. We’re only getting started with this research. However, studies on animal cells indicate that it might be feasible in the future.
Certain neurons are activated when humans experience things, like the colours of a lovely picture or the touch of a delicate flower. This alters the location of many molecules within the cells. This impacts how nerve cells function and, consequently, how they relate to one another. The experience’s memory is encoded, or stored, by these changed connections. We are more likely to encode the items we focus on.
Samuel Schacher, however, asserts that “you can interfere with that encoding.” Based in New York City, he is a retired neuroscientist. In an experiment using sea hare neurons, he and his colleagues discovered that they could control memory encoding.
Three nerve cell circuits were used by the researchers. A motor neuron was one of them. Muscles move because of their nerve cells. Two sensory neurons were attached to that motor neuron. Information from the surroundings is processed by such nerve cells. The researchers were able to break the memory-storing link between the motor neuron and one of the sensory neurons by altering the molecules in those nerve cells.
This suggested that it would be feasible to preserve some memories while erasing others. And maybe in the future, novel treatments could induce neurons to release particular undesirable memories.
Such memory erasure may be helpful for those with certain mental health issues. Consider PTSD sufferers. According to Schacher, traumatic memories might lead a person with this illness to associate a neutral event with danger.
“However, you don’t want to ignore the fact that other behaviours connected to the negative incident might be helpful to recall,” Schacher advises.
This science is far from being applied to humans, even though it was successful with sea hare cells. According to Schacher, there are a few treatments and drugs available to help people deal with painful memories in the interim.
Questions of ethics
Fenton claims that in a way, “we’ve been trying to manipulate memories forever.” For instance, we intentionally work to improve our memory of how to move our bodies in specific ways when we play sports. Similarly, we permit ourselves to forget particular facts if we decide not to study them.
However, we are using lived experience to manipulate our memories in each of these situations.
Is it OK to create or delete memories at will without any prior experience? Fenton says, “The ethics of that are very thorny.” We are who we are because of our lived experiences and recollections of them. According to Fenton, altering someone’s memories may, in some respects, change who they are. “We have to move very cautiously.”
