Manipulations of Memory

I am fascinated by the phenomenon of déjà vu and how it interacts with consciousness and memory. Déjà vu translates to “already seen” but what is interesting about this label is that sight is not even needed to feel this sensation. A case study done at the University of Leeds investigated how a blind person experienced déjà vu. This subject came to the university’s research center complaining of constantly re-occurring déjà vu. Researchers studied his condition by undoing a zipper while playing a particular piece of music; hearing a conversation while holding a dish in a cafeteria etc. These experiences triggered a sensation of déjà vu in the subject. This case study further debunked the myth that the images in one eye were delayed in arriving to the brain thus, inducing the sensation of having seen something before. Researchers plan to further investigate the underlying mechanisms of this mysterious experience via hypnosis based on their belief that déjà vu occurs when “an area of the brain that deals with familiarity gets disrupted.” This experiment will ask subjects to remember words then hypnotize them to forget them and then show them the same word again in the hopes of creating a sense of déjà vu.

Personally, I would argue that déjà vu is definitely both a conscious and unconscious entity It is conscious in the sense that déjà vu inherently involves a very capable memory. Without the ability of maintaining and categorizing memories in a highly organized fashion, there would be nothing to confuse the sensation of past and present from. You would always be in a constant state of is. Temporal placement of memories provides the basic template of what was. Deja vu occurs when the past and present somehow disrupt each other, either by an overly familiar unconscious cue or a subconscious overlap of coding patterns in the brain. Déjà vu is a conscious sensation triggered by unconscious predetermining temporal templates (our memories) clashing with a conscious sense of “presentness” in reality. Déjà vu illuminates the weakness of the brain’s illusion of permanent and true memories. This phenomenon supports the idea that each past experience or memory has a framework that is constantly being integrated and compared with the present and subsequently re-coloring the old memories or unconsciously veiling new experiences and memories.

 This was very briefly touched upon in class but it interested me so I’ll return to it.  The appropriateness of the general use of memory improvement drugs.  The scenario outlined in class was that a drug developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s was found (as such a drug most likely will when it is developed) to have significant positive general effects upon memory.  A parallel was drawn between this hypothetical drug and the non-prescription use of ADHD medications to improve focus.  The most immediate issue in his situation is the safeness of the use of such a medication in this manner.  I am assuming here that the side effects of such a medication would be moderate, as would abuse potential.  I actually think that the use of cognitive enhancers either by students or by professionals is problematic due not to a fundamental inequality but due to inequalities driven by availability.  I don’t particularly like the competitive aspect of academic and professional life; but even within a competitive framework so long as supply isn’t limited it would be beneficial if such a drug were available.  My personal conception of my role as a student is that it is not my goal to better my fellow students, though that’s a large portion of how I am evaluated, but to learn as much as I can and that this may be a case where attempting to control use of such a medication and to prevent its use as a supplement for the healthy would lead to a similar situation as is currently the case with stimulants; those with the resources and determination of use them illicitly would find a way to find a supply, resulting in an unfair disparity. 

While I am not so uncomfortable with the knowledge that we depend upon an imprecise process in memory to function in day-to-day life (I think that we have adapted most of what we depend upon memory for in everyday life to the limitations of memory) I do think that legal faith sometimes invested in memory has been proven to be problematic.  Studies of the reliability of the memory of even victims of a crime suggest that, as was a theme in class, we remember less than we believe or are willing to admit.  The issues that psychology has suggested exist within the legal system, however, (another major one would be that juries often begin with a presumption of guilt, regardless of what they are instructed) extend beyond the unreliability of memory and would be a worthwhile class topic in their own right.  

Before reading the NYT déjà vu article, I never really thought about what components actually make up memories. I thought it was really interesting that they discussed how memories are made of two parts: the content of the memory and the feeling of recollection. Memories are not just thoughts from the past but also the feeling, the recognition that you are remembering something. In this sense, memories are as much of a sensation as they are thoughts.
Tying this back to the discussion of PKMzeta, does this protein block both the content and this sensation of recollection or does it just block one or does it just dissociate the two so that the “memory content” is not recognized as a memory? I think this raises new questions about what the PKMzeta molecule is targeting and how it affects memories to “erase” them.
 

In class, we discussed the possibility of erasing a memory with a simply injection of ZIP, a molecule that would disable the memory-inducing molecule PKMzeta.  Someone suggested that this could be achieved by asking the person to think of the memory, and then using the ZIP to disable the PKMzeta on the specific pathway where it appeared.  However, even if this process were to be effective in erasing memories, there would be no way to erase a single memory without affecting other memories.  Memory is not stored like files on a computer, everything in its place and easy to access with the right sequence of actions.  Memories are intertwined; one memory can recall another memory that you forgot you even had.  There are so many types of memory: your memory of your 10th birthday compared to your knowledge of the capitals of all 50 states compared to your ability to ride a bike.  Are all of these types of memories created in the same way, with the same molecules?  Are they all organized along the same types of pathways?  It seems to me that we are a long way off from being able to ever identify a single memory in the brain, let alone manipulate it.  At this point, I feel that we have very little to worry about in terms of people using ZIP-like drugs to erase memories of drug addiction or to torture prisoners, or PKMzeta-like drugs to increase memory while studying for a test.  Who is to say that an injection of PKMzeta while studying will only make you remember the information you're taking in and not the conversation that the people next to you are having, or the itch on your knee, or the smell of someone's lunch?  Although I feel that this molecule could be helpful in studying the ways that memory works, and how we form memories and how they are recalled, I don't think we know enough yet about any of these topics to be able to put it to any use.

Many people in the class agreed that thoughts most likely do not exist as reproducible patterns that can be consistently observed by an fMRI.  This made me question why we are so insistent that a particular memory exists as one clearly defined connection that could possibly be “erased”.  Isn’t it possible that memory exists as malleable and adaptable neural connections, making it impossible to target a specific memory?  According to the study, ZIP was able to make rats forget the experience of an aversive taste.  However, perhaps ZIP is not targeting a specific memory in this case, but rather erasing entire segments of the rat’s memory.  Of course there is no way to know, because we can’t ask them.  It just seems odd to me that we can talk about thoughts as malleable and diffuse signals in the brain, while we assume that memories consist of concrete connections.  Additionally, I think it is critical to acknowledge the point – which several people have mentioned – that a specific memory is intertwined with a multitude of other memories and related experiences, which complicates any potential use of ZIP.

            In addition, I think that the ethical implications of the use of PKMzeta and ZIP are important to consider.  Some people compared the illegal use of PKMzeta to the illegal use of Riddlin.  However, I feel that the impact of being able to enhance memory is much more profound and dangerous than being able to increase attention span.  One can easily argue against this claim, but I feel that one’s intelligence is mainly defined by their memory (ability to recall facts, remember how to solve a particular problem, etc.) and ability to think critically/problem solve.  If you agree that memory is a critical component of intelligence, then the use of a drug that enhances memory seems like a huge problem.  Why wouldn’t you take a drug that makes you smarter??

In reaction to the memory-erasing drug it would seem highly difficult to find the exact memory that someone wanted to erase. Though I believe there is a connected sequence for each particular memory even if it changes at all times I don’t think there could be a way to find that sequences and erase it before it changes its pattern. With that there is a major chance that unwanted memories would be erased. Also it doesn’t seem likely that when erasing an addiction connection that this would take away the chances of readmission. To do this the memory of the people they were surrounded around and other atmosphere memories would also have to be erased and if this was done than how much of the person is actually left? Though this is an area that should be researched I don’t think it would make sense until we had a better understanding memory and how it works overall.               

 Since class, I have been thinking a lot about how we could practically use ZIP as a means to erase memories. It seems plausible to me that an individual could be asked to recall the particular memory to be erased, and that by administering ZIP, this would deactivate the pathways involved in recall of that memory. This method, however, necessitates that each memory have a distinct pattern/pathway of neurons activated in the brain. --> this is not unlikely because otherwise, how would different memories manifest themselves differently in terms of what we experience?  A possible major roadblock, however, is that at least some of the neurons involved in the recall of one memory are likely be involved in the recall of at least some of our other memories. I do not see any way in which this overlap issue could be avoided. (If this overlap phenomenon did not occur, new connections would have to form every time we created a memory). If the pathways involved in one memory were knocked out, this could potentially lead to the erasure or altering of other memories. Now, not only are a few painful memories erased, but a person's sense of self could be irreparably destroyed (if we agree a person is defined by their memories). 

I agree with the fact discussed in class that studying PKMzeta/ZIP is an ethical slippery slope. If this drug was able to selectively target memories or even groups of associated memories, who's to say that the drug would not be abused? However, I feel that by completely halting research on PKMzeta/ZIP, we would be doing a great disservice to those that ZIP could possibly help (PTSD and addiction sufferers). As scientists, it is our duty to determine the risk-benefit payoff of studying something that could potentially be used in a harmful way or have negative effects. In terms of PKMzeta, I believe that the information we would gain about memory recall would take precedence over the possible abuse of ZIP/ZIP-like drugs. Especially at this point, where we are not even sure that ZIP could erase a particular episodic or explicit memory, I think it would be premature to stop studying PKMzeta now. I'm not saying that scientists would not be responsible for helping to enact safeguards against abuse of such drugs. Rather, I assert that the scientific community should not ignore a molecule that could potentially alter the study of the science of memory.

Can memory be manipulated? Clearly, a memory is manipulated every time it is recollected. We remember what we want to remember. We can suppress memories and we can create false memories. There are an infinite number of ways to manipulate a memory. But, in terms of the scientific method, how can we successfully manipulate memory when it is already so variable? Shouldn't we be able to control the variable being manipulated? This is exactly why I don't think science will ever be able to target specific memories for eradication. In class, we discussed the possibility that memories could be erased, as in the movie The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But how would these memories be targeted? Until other molecules are identified in long-term potentiation, the long process involved in making a memory, no one will ever be able to isolate memories from other memories.

Our class reading involved an article about "editing memory" with the use of a targeted "memory molecule", called protein kinase Mzeta (PKMZeta). The article about PKMzeta described where PKMzeta was found to be most prevalent. PKMzeta settles in "the fingerlike connections among brain cells" that have been involved in the process of creating a memory. Thus, PKMzeta may be involved in the connections being made between neurons to create the memory, but this process is the same for every memory ever made. There is no way that one group of connections between neurons can be differentiated from another group of connections between neurons. For this reason, I don't believe that memory can be edited. I think it would be really interesting to determine what processes are involved in the creation of false memories. How would these connections be similar to, or different from, the connections involved in a "less-false" memory? Would PKMzeta still be involved? Also, what role does consciousness play in what we remember, as well as in the process of remembering- whether it be explicit or implicit memory. How does consciousness affect the connections made between neurons during long-term potentiation?