The ability to erase or suppress trauma could unlock hope for future mental health treatments.
treatment—not to mention delete memories of embarrassing and cringe moments in our lives—they are wary of tampering too much. That's because even our most unpleasant memories can serve important purposes.
Caption:MIT neuroscientists identified the cells where memory traces are stored in the mouse hippocampus.They then put the mice in a square box, and administered a foot shock while shining a laser on the neurons associated with the triangular box. This was done by first surgically implanting thin laser filaments into the mice’s brains and then activating the laser at the exact moment the shock was administered.
Part of the reason is due to the fact that traumatic memories tend to take hold of the brain much more firmly than non-distressing memories. “A critical function of the nervous system is to remember experiences, especially when they are relevant to one's survival or reproduction,” Schacher, co-author of the Columbia University study, and former professor of neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry at CUIMC, told The Daily Beast.
Two sensory neurons plated with a single motor neuron. Schacher and his team were able to selectively erase different memories stored in the same neuron in snails.However, no existing drugs are able to remove these proteins in such a targeted manner in humans. But if there were a way to do this, it would work better than methods involving exposure therapy—which involves confronting traumatic memories, thoughts or associations under the guidance of a therapist—that are prone to relapse.
Erasing the association between a “trigger” and the trauma, or reducing the emotional impact of traumatic memories could offer people who live with the most severe forms of PTSD, or other trauma-induced disorders, some relief. Doing this in a targeted manner that attacks the distressing impact of the memory, while leaving the memory intact, can be incredibly helpful, and reduce many of the concerns related with memory erasure.
“I think there's two sides of the coin: too much memory or not enough memory,” Josselyn said. She pointed out that in the early stages of diseases like Alzheimer’s “there are memories, but people can't seem to find them.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scientists probe into a rat’s inner thoughts, find imaginationInteresting Engineering is a cutting edge, leading community designed for all lovers of engineering, technology and science.
Read more »
Israel’s Quest to Identify Every Victim of Hamas Leaves Scientists Exhausted, TraumatizedForensic specialists have come from around the world to work with the remains of those killed in the Oct. 7 massacre; ‘it doesn’t stop’
Read more »
Red-Hot Secrets: Scientists Discover Molten Layer Covering Martian CoreScience, Space and Technology News 2023
Read more »
The Southern Hemisphere Is Slowly Drying Out, Scientists ReportThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »
Scientists Develop Stronger, Stretchier, Self-Healing PlasticScience, Space and Technology News 2023
Read more »
Brazil Scientists Develop Cocaine Addiction VaccineScientists in Brazil, the world's second-biggest consumer of cocaine, have announced the development of an innovative new treatment for addiction to the drug and its powerful derivative crack: a vaccine. Dubbed 'Calixcoca,' the test vaccine, which has shown promising results...
Read more »