We all have memories that we wish
we could forget. Personally, I wish I could forget the day in high school where
I accidentally sat in chocolate pudding in the cafeteria, ruining my new jeans
and thoroughly embarrassing myself in front of half of the senior class. Many
times, I wish my mind was a chalkboard where embarrassing or painful memories
that I have experienced could be simply wiped away without a trace. This type
of memory would be especially beneficial to those who have suffered a trauma
such as the death of a beloved friend or a rape, and who consequently suffer
from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Removing the traumatic memories
from these people would, no doubt, alleviate their symptoms and greatly improve
their quality of life. However, the act of erasing or modifying memories sounds
like the product of sci-fi movie fueled dreaming, right? Wrong.
A
recent study suggests that memory modification may not just exist in the realm
of fiction any longer. In order to test whether or not memories of fear could
be modified, researchers employed classical conditioning in rats where an
electrical foot shock stimulus was paired with a tone. As expected, after
several trials of pairing the foot shock stimulus to the tone, the tone alone
elicited a fear response in the rats. The rats were then subjected to exposure
therapy thirty days after the pairing of the two stimuli in which the tone was
presented without the corresponding electrical shock. However, exposure therapy
typically is only effective on extinguishing a fear response if the memory had
only been recently formed. In this study, the researchers found that they were
able to achieve extinction of the fear stimulus after the presentation of the
tone stimulus through the use of epigenetic technology. The rats received the epigenetic
modifier agent, CI-994, along with exposure therapy. This combined therapy
effectively reduced the emotional impact of the fear memory (the shock paired
with tone). Therefore, the researchers achieved extinction of a fear response
brought about by a long-term memory via positive adaptation and epigenetic
therapy with CI-944. This result is encouraging for those suffering from PTSD,
and could possibly lead to future therapies for this population in order to
reduce their symptoms and improve their quality of life by modifying their
memories of the traumatic event.
Clearly,
in light of the aforementioned study, memory modification is scientifically
probable and may even become a reality for humans in the near future. However,
as society comes closer to being able to actually modify memories, researchers
have raised questions as to when these technologies should be employed, if at
all. For example, if we modify our memoires, do we lose some piece of ourselves
that we can never get back? Some argue that memories are essential for the
formation of a person’s “true self”, and by employing memory modification, the
person loses an integral part of his or her identity. Take into consideration a
young woman who had been beaten as a child. As she grows up, she decides to
work for Social Services in order to protect children who had undergone similar
abuse. According to some, if this woman were to undergo treatment to modify the
memories of her childhood abuse, she may no longer be as passionate about
protecting children through her occupation. If you are of this mindset, this
woman should not undergo therapy to lessen the pain associated with memories of
her childhood abuse for risk of losing one of her true passions in life and,
potentially, the identity that she had built upon those traumatic memories. According
to this theory, memory modification therapy should never be employed under any
circumstances. However, others maintain that our “true identities” are more
dynamic and the removal of one painful memory would not be enough to
significantly alter a personality. In the case of the woman who endured
childhood abuse, some would argue that she would have probably participated in
activities growing up (such as babysitting) that further solidified her passion
for helping children. Thus, modifying the memories of her abuse would not
significantly alter the part of her identity in question and memory
modification would not pose any serious threat. Essentially, does our entire
identity rely on just a few core memories or are we constantly adjusting with
each new day?
Yet
another moral question that arises in light of advancing memory modification
technology is whether or not we have a moral obligation to maintain our
memories. Some argue memories of traumatic events are necessary for the greater
good of society. For example, what if a victim of the holocaust decided to
undergo memory modification in order to ease the pain associated with his
memories of a concentration camp? A skeptic of memory modification therapy
would argue that the victim has a moral obligation to maintain his memories of
the concentration camp, both emotional and factual, in order to prevent such an
atrocity from occurring in the future. However, others conclude that memory
modification therapy would be advisable in this particular case because the
traumatic memories of the concentration camp may endanger the mental health of
the victim, and, therefore, he is under no obligation to remember them.
Basically, should one have to sacrifice his or her wellbeing for the benefit of
the rest of society?
We
live in an age where science is advancing at an incredible rate. New
technologies become available every day that have the potential to completely
alter our lives. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate each new technology in
order to assess in which situations the implementation of the new technology
would be ethical, if it is indeed ethical at all. In the case of memory
modification therapy, the jury is still out. This writer will leave you to make
up your own mind. In the meantime, I will do my best to forget the chocolate
pudding incident the good old-fashioned way.
Works
Cited
Birey,
Fikri. "Memories Can Be Edited." Scientific American.
Scientific American, 08 May 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
Liao,
S., and Anders Sandberg. "The Normativity of MemoryModification." Neuroethics (2009):
85-99. 10 Apr. 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
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