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> Researchers then used light beamed into the brain to control the activity of individual neurons - they could literally switch memories on or off. So can this

> Researchers then used light beamed into the brain to control the activity of individual neurons - they could literally switch memories on or off. So can this be extended to movie-plot-like memories be wiped, or false memories implanted? How did they identify the memories to be targeted and where they were stored? There's lots of exciting work to reverse-engineer and extract rules from software neural nets. Can the same be possible in hardware nets too, or will attempting to measure it interfere and distort it?

stevenwoo 10y ago
In the article I thought it said they monitored the brain for any activity in response to the shock and the neurons that activated were assumed to be the associated in response to the memory. This is a far cry from being able to look at a neuron in situ and saying what memory or memories are associated with that neuron. This is an old article and may be superceded by more recent research but false memories may not have to be implanted, in some sense we do it ourselves every time we recall a memory http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-our-brains-make-memories-14466850/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-our-brains-...
glippiglop 10y ago
A more practical use might be found in psychotherapy - recalling traumatic memories to identify the relevant neurons and then switching them off. That could be extremely useful for treating PTSD if it's feasible to do so.
- cryptarch 10y ago
  "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is [SPOILER ALERT] a movie about erasing the memories of a past lover, a very similar idea.
  - uighjughhh 10y ago
    Which was a total let down as a movie
- phkahler 10y ago
  You might want to read about EMDR therapy. I believe any attempt to overcome the effects of traumatic experiences requires reactivating those neurons at least temporarily. I feel like even the use of CBT to change behavior works better if you can associate the unwanted behavior with memories of how you came to acquire that behavior - at that point you'll want to change the narrative of the old events to something that can be more easily accepted. This isn't really new.
pseud0r 10y ago
You might be interested in this http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-to-to-erase-your-painful-memories http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_erasure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_erasure
jlebrech 10y ago
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/
return0 10y ago
> So can this be extended to movie-plot-like memories be wiped, or false memories implanted? How did they identify the memories to be targeted and where they were stored? The same group has done all that stuff with optogenetics and molecular techniques: http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/296_Liu-Ramirez_Royal-Society.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/296_Li... http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/297_Ramirez-Tonegawa-Liu_Frontiers.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/297_Ra... http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/289_liu-ramirez-pang-puryear-govindarajan-2012.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/289_li...

stevenwoo 10y ago

In the article I thought it said they monitored the brain for any activity in response to the shock and the neurons that activated were assumed to be the associated in response to the memory. This is a far cry from being able to look at a neuron in situ and saying what memory or memories are associated with that neuron. This is an old article and may be superceded by more recent research but false memories may not have to be implanted, in some sense we do it ourselves every time we recall a memory http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-our-brains-make-memories-14466850/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-our-brains-...

glippiglop 10y ago

A more practical use might be found in psychotherapy - recalling traumatic memories to identify the relevant neurons and then switching them off. That could be extremely useful for treating PTSD if it's feasible to do so.

cryptarch 10y ago
"The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is [SPOILER ALERT] a movie about erasing the memories of a past lover, a very similar idea.
- uighjughhh 10y ago
  Which was a total let down as a movie
phkahler 10y ago
You might want to read about EMDR therapy. I believe any attempt to overcome the effects of traumatic experiences requires reactivating those neurons at least temporarily. I feel like even the use of CBT to change behavior works better if you can associate the unwanted behavior with memories of how you came to acquire that behavior - at that point you'll want to change the narrative of the old events to something that can be more easily accepted. This isn't really new.

pseud0r 10y ago

You might be interested in this http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-to-to-erase-your-painful-memories http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_erasure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_erasure

jlebrech 10y ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338337/

return0 10y ago

> So can this be extended to movie-plot-like memories be wiped, or false memories implanted? How did they identify the memories to be targeted and where they were stored? The same group has done all that stuff with optogenetics and molecular techniques: http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/296_Liu-Ramirez_Royal-Society.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/296_Li... http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/297_Ramirez-Tonegawa-Liu_Frontiers.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/297_Ra... http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/289_liu-ramirez-pang-puryear-govindarajan-2012.pdf http://tonegawalab.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/289_li...