Scientists Manipulate and Erase Memories (preview)

Features | Mind & Brain See Inside

Drugs and other therapies may soon be able to alter or even delete recollections selectively

By Adam Piore ?| January 26, 2012?|

Image: Photoillustration by Aaron Goodman

In Brief

1. Scientists once believed that long-term memories were immutable. Research now suggests that reminding a person of something makes that recollection temporarily revert to an insecure state, in which it can be modified, even erased.
2. Deleting, or at least muting, parts of human memory with drugs or targeted therapies might help people recover from trauma or anxiety.
3. Promising approaches for altering remembrances include a drug used to treat high blood pressure and chemicals that block a newly discovered enzyme that helps recollections persist.

Jo?l Coutu knelt on the cold cement floor of the pet supply store he managed in Montreal, his wrists bound behind him with telephone wire. He could feel the barrel of a pistol pressed against the back of his neck. ?You?re lying!? the gunman screamed. ?And I am going to blow your head off.?

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