Ever wished you could erase certain memories from your mind? Steve Ramirez, a professor at Boston University, is exploring groundbreaking methods to alter memories, potentially offering relief from trauma.
Ramirez, who speaks at the Mesa Arts Center for the National Geographic Live event “Untangling the Mind,” is focused on two primary objectives: understanding the biology of learning and memory and manipulating memories to enhance brain health.
Exploring Memory Manipulation
STEVE RAMIREZ: “Yeah, so importantly, our experimental subjects are rodents that we start off with. And they have pretty remarkably evolutionarily conserved brain areas that are involved in learning and memory that we humans also have.”
Ramirez’s lab starts by identifying specific brain cells in rodents that hold individual memories. They then experiment with activating or deactivating these cells to observe behavioral changes. This research could have implications for human memory, given the shared memory structures between species.
MARK BRODIE: “It almost sounds like, and I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie ‘Inside Out,’ but it kinda sounds like that’s what you’re working with, where all these memories are in like little glass balls that are just stored somewhere in our brains?”
RAMIREZ: “Yeah, you know, that’s almost exactly how I imagined memory when I first went into the field, which was that there’s somehow these biological orbs of information in the brain that hold on to our past experiences.”
Unlike the movie’s depiction, Ramirez explains that memories involve a complex network of brain activity and are not confined to a single location. Sights, sounds, and emotions are processed in different brain areas, creating a multifaceted memory landscape.
BRODIE: “So does that mean then that if you are trying to alter someone’s memory or change the memory in some way, you have to … know which aspect of the memory you’re trying to deal with, be it sight, smell, voice, something like that. And then sort of know how and where to go about doing that?”
RAMIREZ: “Right, and we try to control that in the lab as much as possible by giving our rodents very specific experiences.”
To study memory modification, researchers provide rodents with particular experiences to form memories, like associating a reward with an environment. This approach helps identify brain areas associated with positive experiences, offering insights into memory manipulation.
Understanding Memory Fluidity
BRODIE: “I want to mention one of the analogies that you write about, which is that you basically say when we have a memory, when we think about a memory, it’s like hitting ‘save as’ on a Microsoft Word document.”
RAMIREZ: “That’s a great question. And honestly, I think it’s pretty fluid, to answer it scientifically. I mean, I think that there’s this aphorism that you can’t step in the same river twice.”
Ramirez elaborates that memories are constantly reshaped by current perceptions and emotions. This fluidity explains why people might recall the same event differently, suggesting our memories are not fixed but ever-evolving.
The Ethics of Memory Manipulation
BRODIE: “So I’m curious how you think about sort of the morals of adjusting people’s memories.”
RAMIREZ: “Without a doubt. … It’s a really important topic to consider here because the way that this can be misused is pretty obvious.”
Ramirez emphasizes the ethical implications of memory manipulation, suggesting it should be used to enhance well-being. He envisions its application in treating psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, provided it remains within a clinical context.
BRODIE: “Right. Well, is it possible, do you think, to manipulate or adjust a memory, but still have sort of the lessons that it taught us or, you know, keep the element of that memory that made somebody who they are or led them down a particular path?”
RAMIREZ: “Yes. And I love the way that you phrased it, because that is exactly what experimental neuroscience lets us do.”
Ramirez explains that memory alteration aims to preserve life lessons while diminishing distressing elements that could contribute to disorders like PTSD. This approach seeks to help individuals grow from experiences without reliving the associated pain.
For more information, visit National Geographic Live.
