If our experiences shape us into who and what we become…

It is our memories that keeps that change ever-evolving.

But what if not all those ‘memories’ that us are real, then what?

Well…

Nevertheless, they affect us.

[via eScienceNews] “False memories tend to get a bad rap,” says developmental psychologist Mark L. Howe, of Lancaster University in England. Indeed, remembering events incorrectly or remembering events that didn’t happen can have grave consequences, such as the criminal conviction of an innocent person. “But false memories are a natural outcropping of memory in general. They must have some positive effect, too.” That argument — that memory illusions were evolutionarily adaptive and remain useful for psychological well being and problem-solving — is the subject of an intriguing paper in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

Obviously, the evolution of accurate memory — for the location of food, the appearance of a predator, or the smell of a potential mate — was critical to human survival. Howe cites findings in evolutionary psychology that the more relevant a memory is to survival, the more likely it is to be evinced.

But memory is a flexible process of taking in new information and blending it with what is already there, selecting or forgetting portions of experience; it inevitably leads to errors small or large. Not only do we regularly generate false memories, says Howe, but, perhaps because we create them ourselves, those illusions are more tenacious than facts.

In some instance, such illusions may have enhanced our ancestors’ survival. “The animal that goes to a favorite food-foraging location and sees signs that a predator was there — but not the predator itself — may be on guard the next time. But the creature that falsely remembers the predator was actually there might be even more cautious” — extra protection against getting eaten if the bad guy shows up.

Memory illusions, like illusions generally, can still be salutary. An inflated self-concept may result in greater confidence, which fuels success. Similarly, remembering your childhood as happier than it was may help you have more satisfying intimate relationships in adulthood. The “placebo effect” — believing the sugar pill is real medicine — can cure the ailment without side effects. False memories sometimes have a related outcome: Howe cites a study in which children who came to remember a lumbar puncture as less painful than it was were able to tolerate the procedure with more ease the next time. False memories can also help in problem solving. Howe and colleagues conducted experiments in which they gave children a list of words — nap, doze, dream, pillow, bed. Those who falsely remembered that sleep was also on the list did better on a complex associative task involving that word than those who did not generate the illusion.

Memory, Howe suggests, does not work like a video recorder. “Memory is designed to extract meaning from experience: At the foraging place, something bad was going on. You don’t need the exact information to get the meaning.”

The point of the paper is not to exaggerate the value of illusion, says Howe. “Memories true or false can have a negative or positive effect, depending on the context. The key point is: Just because a memory is false doesn’t make it bad.” [Read More]

Of course thanks to the terrors of science…

I mean, the ingenuousness of science?

Forget that whole ‘experiences shape us, we need them’ deal.

Nope, now science has made a pill…

One where if you dislike a memory?

You can simply wash it away.

[via Daily Mail] Scientists have unlocked some of the secrets of how the brain deals with stress – paving the way for a drug that eases painful memories.

Within a decade we could have a pill that would help those haunted by car crashes, as well as sufferers of crippling phobias.

The Leicester University research could also provide the foundation for new treatments for depression.

Mice genetically engineered  to be unable to make a protein called lipocalin-2 reacted to stress more severely than other animals.

Tests tracked this back to changes in junctions that brain cells use to communicate with each other.

Mice lacking the protein had more ‘mushroom-shaped’ junctions key to learning and consolidating memories, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (MUST CREDIT) reports.

Researcher Dr Robert Pawlak (CORR) said: “Mushroom spines help us remember things we once learned – but it is not always good.

‘Some very stressful events would better be forgotten quickly or they may result in anxiety disorders. There is a constant battle of forces in our brain to help maintain the right balance of thin and mushroom spines – or how much to remember and what better to forget.

‘We have identified a protein that the brain produces in response to stress in order to reduce the number of mushroom spines and therefore reduce future anxiety associated with stressful events.’ 

The researcher now plans to look at whether raising levels of the protein helps ease painful memories.

The Leicester University research could also provide the foundation for new treatments for depression (Leicester University’s library pictured)

If so, a drug that boosts lipocalin-2 in the brain could be on the market within a decade.

The research could also lead to new treatments for depression.

Dr Pawlak said: ‘Stress-related psychological and mental disturbances are extremely common and affect more than 30 per cent of the population. 

‘We are keen to investigate whether the mechanisms discovered by us apply to humans and could help inform clinical strategies to deal with anxiety disorders and depression.’ 

The ability to erase painful memories has been the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood blockbusters for decades.

In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a couple, played by Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey, undergo a procedure known as ‘targeted memory erasure’ to wipe out all recollection of each other after their relationship turns sour.

Dutch researchers recently discovered that beta-blocker drugs used to treat heart disease may also help patients to banish bad memories.

And scientists have shown that maintaining a stiff upper lip in times of crisis can stop bad memories from being laid down.

Those who refuse to panic during moments of trauma remember less about what they saw than people who are more emotional.

It is thought that by concentrating so hard on keeping their emotions in check, they overload their brain, stopping it from taking in what is happening.

But the field is not without its critics, with some claiming that holding on to and reviewing bad memories is essential if we are to learn from our mistakes. [Read More]

My question is…

What happens to all that you learned from the memories you are just so casually wiping away like old writing on a chalkboard?

Does that just vanish too?

And if it does…

What becomes of who you are then?

Something to think about.