I've listened to this one RadioLab episode on memory a gazillion times (ok, maybe 3-4 times) because it's the only one that actually got downloaded to my iTunes library. (ok, it was an episode on memory and forgetting - but I guess I forgot that part! Ha!) One of the most astonishing features of the episode is on the experiments that were performed on rodents, then in human trials, that showed the use of a ribosomal inhibitor (which blocks protein formation) in blocking memory formation, then they showed how it could also "erase" memories when the rat or human was remembering that particular memory, kind of like the idea in that Jim Carey movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
So, actually, I have a strong opinion about their interpretation of the results - they (the scientists and the show's producers/creators) are trying to suggest that they can actually erase these traumatic memories that the people in the trials had. What they showed was that this inhibitor drug actually de-coupled their traumatic emotions from the memories, rather than erasing the memories, themselves. I think that's actually the key element in the story - this decoupling of emotion from memory. Even in the rat experiments, they cannot say whether or not they erased the memory of the shock or if they just erased the fright that they associated with the shock, as conditioned to them by the signal. (I actually cannot remember the details right now of the experiment, but I do remember the gist - and I recall my emotions regarding it! I didn't take the drug.)
The other interesting part of the story that I agree with their interpretation of is that each time we remember something, we are reforming our emotional connection with that memory (again, this is how I would say it rather than reforming the memory, itself). It is like we are re-writing how we feel about the past every time we remember it. This actually makes sense, doesn't it? Doesn't this seem intuitively true?
Of course, this interpretation implies that we don't actually need to take a drug to re-write our emotional coupling with our memory, just that we need to consciously alter that emotional coupling - make that choice while actually remembering the memory. In fact, this research provides a mechanism for how talk therapy can re-wire our emotional coupling with our memories - by remembering a traumatic memory and talking through it with a therapist in a safe environment, where the therapist can help you to change your emotional out-take of that memory, you can de-couple the emotion from the event, thus resolving it to the degree of not having it affect you in the same way anymore, so that you can move on with your life.
I don't necessarily think we always need to work out our painful memories with a therapist. I also think we do it, naturally. We are constantly changing our emotional connection to memories in both directions, especially when it comes to relationships. For instance, when you're in love with someone, everything they do seems nearly perfect and you are elated with them - the memories are happy, lovely, etc. But then when there's a painful break-up, you might remember those very same events with a very different emotional connection - now it is painful, now it hurts to remember it. I think it's hard for us to know what is true and what is not - is this pain more real than the love and joy that were connected to that memory previously?
I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm doing some re-writing right now, too. Or re-re-writing some emotional connections to memories. The joy and the pain were both real at the times that I experienced them with this person I am remembering, but what does that mean about the true, objective reality of who this person is and how we interacted? I guess I am willing to re-write this story, or at least add an addendum to the previous one.
Of course, this interpretation implies that we don't actually need to take a drug to re-write our emotional coupling with our memory, just that we need to consciously alter that emotional coupling - make that choice while actually remembering the memory. In fact, this research provides a mechanism for how talk therapy can re-wire our emotional coupling with our memories - by remembering a traumatic memory and talking through it with a therapist in a safe environment, where the therapist can help you to change your emotional out-take of that memory, you can de-couple the emotion from the event, thus resolving it to the degree of not having it affect you in the same way anymore, so that you can move on with your life.
I don't necessarily think we always need to work out our painful memories with a therapist. I also think we do it, naturally. We are constantly changing our emotional connection to memories in both directions, especially when it comes to relationships. For instance, when you're in love with someone, everything they do seems nearly perfect and you are elated with them - the memories are happy, lovely, etc. But then when there's a painful break-up, you might remember those very same events with a very different emotional connection - now it is painful, now it hurts to remember it. I think it's hard for us to know what is true and what is not - is this pain more real than the love and joy that were connected to that memory previously?
I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm doing some re-writing right now, too. Or re-re-writing some emotional connections to memories. The joy and the pain were both real at the times that I experienced them with this person I am remembering, but what does that mean about the true, objective reality of who this person is and how we interacted? I guess I am willing to re-write this story, or at least add an addendum to the previous one.
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