The idea of losing meaningful memories due to illness or injury is a hard process to accept and understand. But some researchers from Cardiff University believe that there are new ways to potentially restore “lost” memories, which could contribute to progress with the development of drugs and treatment designed for those with memory problems, such as amnesia.
Findings published in the journal Nature Communications indicate the relevance of the process in the brain that could help rescue lost memories or bury bad memories. The focus is on providing reminders in order to encourage memory restoration.
“Previous research in this area found that when you recall a memory it is sensitive to interference to other information and in some cases is completely wiped out,” Dr Kerrie Thomas, who led the research, said, according to Science Daily. “Our research challenges this view and we believe proves this not the case. Our research found that despite using a technique in the brain thought to produce total amnesia we’ve been able to show that with strong reminders, these memories can be recovered.”
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Although the research findings have been a result of experiments with rats, the researchers are confident that the same results would be present with humans. It appears that the idea of forgetting something might be more about it being covered by other memories rather than it somehow disappearing.
“These animal models do accurately reflect what’s happening in humans and suggest that our autobiographical memories, our self-histories, are clouded by new memories rather than actually lost,” Thomas explained. “This is an exciting prospect in terms of treating psychiatric illness associated with memory disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis. We can now devise new drugs or behavioral strategies that can treat these memory problems in the knowledge that we won’t overwrite our experiences.”
The news about the research doesn’t exactly map out how these reminders worked for the rats or how they might work for people, but the findings show some promise.
I vote that this premise inspires an interesting alternative plot line for an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind sequel.