Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/356
wouldn't you? or would you rather live your life with the emotional scars of a damaged character? now let's assume your whole life has been a walking train wreck of bad luck and bad memories from Day one. Instead of drinking yourself to oblivion (which only temporarily erases memory), why not try a complete memory makeover? You could start by selectively erasing bad memories using reconsolidation techniques in the presence of an inhibitor that blocks the protein synthesis responsible for memory; this would result in the kind of memory tinkering made famous in the movie The eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This process is not as diffi cult as you might think; memory formation relies on a chain of genetic instructions in the hippocampus propagated by the interaction of calcium and proteins from the myosin Vb gene (MYo5b) at or near the neural synapse. This interaction is set in motion by hormonal responses to stimulus, both immediate and recalled, and if a memory is recalled while the myosin Vb synthesis is disrupted, there goes whatever memory you try to recall. Fade to black. but say memory softening or even selective memory deletion isn't enough for you. Let's say you needed a total memory re- do so you can start building new memories from scratch. You're in luck, because there is new evidence demonstrating that all your long term memory can be wiped out with a single local application of a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, such as protein kinase M zeta (PKMzeta). When PKMzeta is applied to rats their long-term associative memories vanish rapidly and they exhibit all the signs of irreversible amnesia, which means the protein kinase C isoform is essential to the proper maintenance of long term memory on a daily basis; block it long enough and your memories spontaneously vanish. With PKMzeta, you may be able to permanently dump your entire memory history in a single session that lasts less than a few hours, an interesting notion for those of us who wish we could start life over as someone new. If you are considering radical memory intervention, it is always helpful to make a list of the new memories you want to imprint. even though false memory imprinting is considered an unwanted side-effect of hypnotherapy – leading to many convoluted unproven claims of sexual abuse and abduction that were "recovered" from botched hypnotic sessions – this same technique can be used to imprint an entirely new set of life memories onto a receptive mind. While there is still controversy in the psychiatric community over the validity of false memory syndrome, the method for imprinting false memories is well understood. To imprint a false memory all you have to do is put the subject in a trance state (hypnotize them), plant the memory through suggestion, and then get the subject to accept and internalize that memory as part of their larger life story. When the subject is brought back out of the trance state, they will be able to talk about their new memories and fi ll in all the fi ne details for themselves; you would be surprised how readily the brain can fi ll in memory gaps and rationalize paradoxical memories all in the service of building a more fully realized ego. The memories don't actually need to be true; they just need to be the ones you want. And don't worry if you pick a memory that you don't like, you can always have it erased and start over from scratch later. With PKMzeta, you may be able to permanently dump your entire memory history in a single session that lasts less than a few hours. Propranolol and memory reconsolidation http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/ nCT00611871 Protein synthesis and memory reconsolidation http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/ S0896-6273(02)01001-2 Myosin Vb and memory formation http://www.hhmi.org/news/ ehlers20081031.html Rapid erasure of Long Term Memory http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/ content/abstract/sci;317/5840/951 Planting False Memories is easy http://www.post-gazette.com/healthsc ience/20030217woods0217p5.asp ReSoURCeS James Kent is the former publisher of Trip magazine and editor of Dosenation.com. Additional reporting by David Perlman. that lasts less than a few hours. WWW.hPLUSMAgAzIne.CoM 59