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What I found fascinating here are the implications for the neurobiology of memory. Here it is limited to highly emotional fear-based memories, but nonetheless t
by sharp11 11y ago
What I found fascinating here are the implications for the neurobiology of memory. Here it is limited to highly emotional fear-based memories, but nonetheless the idea that a memory gets rewritten immediately after recall, as saving a file after edit, and that that is an opportunity to completely redefine the memory, is quite striking.
- xkcd-sucks 11y agoThere's some evidence that recalling a memory makes it labile, and that interrupting memory reconsolidation processes during this labile period can 'erase' them, much like not getting sleep after initially forming a memory can prevent it from becoming permanent. Emotional/fear associated memories are a really easy model to work with, and are also the most clinically compelling application of memory extinction. See Cristina alberini's work, and others, as well as reviews like http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v8/n4/abs/nrn2090.html http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v8/n4/abs/nrn2090.html
- sharp11 11y agoThank you for the incisive suggestions! This is remarkable stuff. Here's a good one not behind a paywall: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056265/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056265/