McGill Podcasts » Cutting Edge Lectures
McGill Podcasts » Cutting Edge Lectures
McGill University
Can we erase memories for therapeutic benefits?
26 minutes Posted Feb 11, 2010 at 6:51 pm.
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If we could functionally erase a memory to make someone’s life better would that be acceptable? What if the memory was of a trauma that has incapacitated someone for decades? Why do we need memories if they keep us down?

In a very playful manner, Dr. Karim Nader addresses some of the science that is at the heart of memory research today. The science suggests that memories can be functionally erased, a concept which was taken and expanded to the point of fiction in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.