Turning Memories On/Off With the Flip of a Switch 86
cylonlover writes "Using electrical probes embedded into the brains of rats, scientists have managed to replicate the brain function associated with long-term behavior and found a way to literally turn memories on and off with the flip of a switch. The scientists hope their research will eventually lead to a neural prosthesis to help people suffering Alzheimer's disease, the effects of stroke or other brain injury to recover long-term memory capability."
In all seriousness (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd be interested to know how this could be applied to turning off traumatic or unpleasant memories, and the socio-psycholigical effects such widespread use would have. Aren't there memories we all have that we have thought it would be better to forget? Disregarding the use by governments for a second, let's contemplate how it could be used by an individual to shape their own consciousness. You could remove the images of your battle buddies being killed in combat, or your parents being killed in that car accident you survived. As a hack to short circuit the processing and digestion of unpleasant memories, this is an interesting (although perhaps disturbing and dangerous) technology, but it could be found that the negative effects could be mitigated with a combination of memory forgetting treatment and therapy.