Research

figured i should offer some proof that, contrary to my blogging activity, i have been doing a lot of work this week. i keep trying to focus on the specimen but get caught up with trying to figure out more about my topic. difficult to apply the NYT exercise in this case but did find a couple relevant articles:

brain researchers open door to editing memory
describes an experiment (similar to one in 2000 by LeDoux et al at NYU) that basically shows that by inhibiting the production of a certain protein necessary for maintaining long-term memories while the memory is being recalled, the memory itself is destroyed. The drug could theoretically be used on sufferers of PTSD to help relieve them of the burden of painful memories. Yes, very eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, which i just now re-watched (a nostalgic and memory-evoking activity in itself - i haven't seen the movie in years but when it came out it was a very big deal for me. i think i saw it like 7 times in theaters. i've been noticing that the process of doing this project has become very meta).

the nose, an emotional time machine
Rachel Herz of Brown has been doing experiments on the link between smell and memory. Even titled one of her articles "testing the proustian hypothesis." The olfactory cortex is located within the limbic system and amygdala, which processes emotional reactions. Now this is the part i'm still trying to figure out - what about HEARING? particularly, music. at least in my experience, while smells and tastes give me a creepy but vague deja-vu experience that is sometimes hard to pin down, certain pieces of music are like time machines. not only do i FEEL like i did however long ago, but i am transported to a very specific place - i can see what i saw, remember what i was doing, presumably at the time the music most affected me. the scientists who keep talking about smell and memory say how the association is so much stronger than the way all the other senses are processed completely skip over this phenomenon which seems...negligent. after all, when alzheimer's patients have forgotten their entire autobiographies they can still remember songs they knew in childhood. i just bought oliver sacks' book on 'musicophilia' so hopefully that will clear some things up.

for the brain, remembering is like reliving
again, this is a follow-up on the ledoux/nader experiment, which showed that when you remember something you are actually re-creating it in the brain. which is why the more you remember something the less accurate it actually becomes, since it is consistently re-shaped by the context in which you are recalling the memory. this article is in response to an experiment that actually recorded brain cells in the process of summoning a memory - they are in the same neurons that were stimulated when the event was originally experienced. no wonder our memories can get so distorted, and when we suddenly remember something we hadn't thought of in forever, it seems especially real. perhaps that's also why when we soon after repeat the stimulus that set off the this surprise memory, it loses its power.

your brain and your memory in 3D
which is actually a reference to this national geographic article
interesting, but doesn't provide me with much actual information. discusses 2 people with extreme memories - one who remembers every detail of every day of her life, the other can only remember the last 7 seconds.

the quest to forget
another article on the bioethics of selective memory-erasing.