Scientists Identify Genes Activated During Learning And Memory

Researchers have theorized that certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain for learning and memory to take place. Finding and cataloging all the genes involved in learning is a formidable job. Scientists have now developed a computational approach to provide a rapid way to identify the likely members of this sought-after set of genes.

Re:That's all fine and dandy...

[rde]

studies conducted on the few people with truly eidetic memory showed that while they indeed had nearly perfect recollection, they also lacked the ability to discriminate between important and unimportant

Irrespective of which causes which, it's unlikely that we're going to get an all-or-nothing scenario; it should be possible to improve memory and/or learning without going the whole hog. And TBH, I think the effect on Alzheimer's is likely to be limited; while IANAN, I imagine that it's not defective memory-activating genes that cause it as much as it is plaques 'n' stuff in the brain.
Besides, have you looked at the internet lately? It seems that it's not eidetic memory that causes one to lose one's ability to distinguish between the important and the irrelevent; it's a modem.

Re:That's all fine and dandy...

[kevinadi]

I wouldn't consider the lack of ability to have photographic memory is necessarily bad though. I have a really bad memory, forget people's names within 5 minutes of meeting them, can't seem to remember street names and address, etc.

This results in me getting really bad grades in memory-minded Asian school, since we're practically must memorize every single little thing in exams. However, this lack of ability also allows me to be very selective on what to memorize (e.g. I discovered rather quickly what is important and what is not) and allows me to develop other skills to compensate since I can't remember shit.

I have to say that my lack of strong memory actually helped me a lot in later life. I learned at an early age, much unlike my peers, that if I understand something I don't need to memorize it. When everyone in my class tried very hard to memorize an A4 paper full of formulas, I can get away with memorizing three of them (in parts no less; I have problem memorizing a full formula so I have to separate them into logical parts) and derive the rest during exam. Now as far as I know I'm the only person in my high school class doing a PhD in Engineering. And I still can't remember shit.

Now what was that article about again?