focuses on finding
individual memories in the brain
and then trying to actually tinker with those memories.
Can we turn them on, can we turn them off
can we change the contents of those memories?
Ethical stuff aside, you can imagine the implications
for things like actually being able to
activate memories in Alzheimer’s, for example.
Or using memories to combat certain symptoms
associated with psychiatric disorders.
The main question that we started off
tackling was, can we go in,
can we find the brain cells
that are active during a particular memory
and again, can we actually modulate those brain cells.
So, what we would do is, uh, we would go in
we would find these brain cells that
we think are holding on to a particular memory
and we would actually artificially install
a light-sensitive switch in those brain cells.
So, that means that we can actually take an optic fiber,
do some careful brain surgery
and actually shoot lasers into the brain
and reactivate these brain cells or inactivate these brain cells
that we think are housing a particular memory.
You don’t have to imagine any more
the possibility of bringing back a memory that
was once thought to be lost, in a patient with Alzheimer’s.
Or imagine going in and turning the dial down
on the emotional gut-wrenching “I hate my life” feeling of…
not a breakup but something more seriously, something like PTSD.
Imagine being able to turn the dial down
on those negative emotions.
Or being able to jump start particular moods
when your mood is really low
or even under depression, uh, in a depressed state.
So, those are the things that we don’t have to imagine any more.
Those are the things that we are on the cusp of
actually being able to do
with, I think, powerful therapeutic value.
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