Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

In a nutshell, what Karim showed was that each time a memory is used, it has to be restored as a new memory in order to be accessible later. The old memory is either not there or is inaccessible. In short, your memory about something is only as good as your last memory about it. Joseph LeDoux

There are a couple of things that are bringing me to speak on "accessing the memories," and, "what people have changed they're minds about."

Plato:

This all has a purpose for me, in that what can be changed according to what our previous assessment was based upon “while remembering.” What it can do to help “readjust our views” based on what we first felt impressed upon us “in reflection?”

You get so many people who view a movie and in "real life?" What has made this movie a tangible bit of information that they would assume in their minds, that it is sufficient, or not, in regards to the basis of scientific procedure, to comment on whether it is just another "white coat scientist with glasses" who defines the scientist in incognito.

There would have to be a question of the reality of who is being defined as a scientist and some relationship and feelings "about the nerdy guy," and his stature as a scientist? Why do they feel this way?

But there is something vastly more important from the aspect of "this blog post entry" that has been part of my blog for some time. The issue about "memories."

Now before I get to the bottom of this posting, an inference to the basis of any thinking has some derivative to the expansionist valuation of more postings, then what can be said in a simple line? :) Ah, it never that easy to say something simple and then not show the examples being used to further the thoughts within one's own regime.

"Recollection of Dreams," while we try and remember yesterday?

I show the EDge site link and question for a purpose, and highlight a paragraph Sean Carroll listed in his blog entry called,"What Have You Changed Your Mind About?"

He paragraphs Joseph LeDoux.

Neuroscientist, New York University; Author, The Synaptic Self

Like many scientists in the field of memory, I used to think that a memory is something stored in the brain and then accessed when used. Then, in 2000, a researcher in my lab, Karim Nader, did an experiment that convinced me, and many others, that our usual way of thinking was wrong. In a nutshell, what Karim showed was that each time a memory is used, it has to be restored as a new memory in order to be accessible later. The old memory is either not there or is inaccessible. In short, your memory about something is only as good as your last memory about it. This is why people who witness crimes testify about what they read in the paper rather than what they witnessed. Research on this topic, called reconsolidation, has become the basis of a possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction, and any other disorder that is based on learning.

It is also important that I show the thought held while commenting on the movie script, so one gets the sense of where I am coming from.

Plato:

"If it was a consistent effort on your part how would it be any different then remembering what happened yesterday? Depends on “what you want to remember?”

I still find “the change” intriguing and how it would change “current thinking?”

So there you have it. I am using a "current situation" to help think about what is now changed in the mind of Joseph LeDoux. What has confronted by my own mind on how I had thought about memories. What and how they are accessed. This would incur some additional research throughout my site on what was first established, and how I came to believe what I do. That might be unimportant to a lot of you, so, bon voyage!

The Spotless Mind

Psychology professor Karim Nader is helping sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder lessen debilitating symptoms—and in some cases, regain a normal life.Owen Egan See also: The Trauma Tamer

IC: Why is this research so important?

Karim Nader: There are a lot of implications. All psychopathological disorders, such as PTSD, epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorders, or addiction—all these things have to do with your brain getting rewired in a way that is malfunctioning. Theoretically, we may be able to treat a lot of these psychopathologies. If you could block the re-storage of the circuit that causes the obsessive compulsion, then you might be able to reset a person to a level where they aren’t so obsessive. Or perhaps you can reset the circuit that has undergone epilepsy repeatedly so that you can increase the threshold for seizures. And there is some killer data showing that it’s possible to block the reconsolidation of drug cravings.

The other reason why I think it is so striking is that it is so contrary to what has been the accepted view of memory for so long in the mainstream. My research caused everybody in the field to stop, turn around and go, “Whoa, where’d that come from?” Nobody’s really working on this issue, and the only reason I came up with this is because I wasn’t trained in memory. [Nader was originally researching fear.] It really caused a fundamental reconceptualization of a very basic and dogmatic field in neuroscience, which is very exciting. It is the first time in 100 years that people are starting to come up with new models of memory at the physiological level.

Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind



Homer now considers his life to be worthless and decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. While falling, Homer's life flashes before his eyes, and he sees the full memory of the previous night.