Scientists have found a protein that can alter memories. What’s it for?

Scientists have found a protein that can alter memories. What’s it’s for?

The desire to permanently forget an unpleasant event has arisen in many people. It turns out that there is a real way to do it.

Scientists believe that this is possible. Even in Greek mythology mentioned a kind of “potion of oblivion” Nepenthes – a kind of medicine for sorrow. And, it seems, the mythical potion has partially materialized in reality. Researchers have found a mechanism that will help at least partially forget about a negative event. Of course, the discovery is still far from the invention of a device to erase memory, as in “Men in Black”, where science allows you to choose which memories to erase, and which to leave. Still, we suggest getting a handle on how this mechanism works.

nutritionist, founder of GetVegetable, a nutrition delivery service.

Perhaps this is one of the most interesting discoveries of our time.

To begin with, we should note that long-term memory is divided into two types: factual and instinctive. In the first case, people memorize specific facts: dates, events, names, numbers, titles. And in the second – emotions, skills and experiences. Researchers suggest that the actual memory can not be modified, but to manage instinctive is quite realistic. In the course of the experiment, they found out that this is possible due to the joint work of the so-called shank protein and a drug called propranolol. The experiment was conducted on rats, but in the future the scientists plan to project the result on humans as well. In their opinion, the discovery will be useful for the treatment of psychological traumas and post-traumatic disorders.

This raises the question: why do we forget some events and remember others? The fact is that when the reward system comes into play, it is either triggered in the brain when we try to reproduce this or that event, or not. Accordingly, mediator hormones are either re-produced or not. And if we can’t remember the connection between the event and its surroundings more than three times, the memory is erased.

Elena: I consider it one of the most interesting discoveries of our time. With its help, scientists are one step closer to a more detailed understanding of how memories are stored and erased. Of course, this work will still take a long time, but already some mysteries have been cleared up. There is a possibility that, with further research, it may eventually be possible to help people who are often troubled by stressful memories of unpleasant life events.