Joël Coutu knelt on the cold cement floor of the pet supply store he managed in Montreal, his wrists bound behind him with telephone wire. He could feel the barrel of a pistol pressed against the back of his neck. “You’re lying!” the gunman screamed. “And I am going to blow your head off.”

He and another attacker had herded Coutu and a young cashier into the back room and demanded that he unlock the safe. When he told them he did not have the key, they became enraged. They ripped out all the wires of the fax and telephones in his office and tossed the contents of his desk drawers. Now they were getting ready to execute him. “Go ahead and pop him,” he heard one of them tell the other. “Blow his head off.’”

5 Comments

1. 1. wywong 05:37 PM 1/12/12

   We all have the experience of recalling some event/skill/name wrongly one day and realizing the mistake some time later when we somehow remembered the correct version. According to the theory that recollection turns memory into an unstable state, that would not be possible - the correct memory would be replaced by the wrongly recalled version.
   
   There are different types of memory such as episodic memory and procedural memory, formation of which involves somewhat different mechanisms. In the article, the "supporting evidence" of the aforementioned theory only applies to the conditioned reflex related to some traumatic memory. There is no evidence that the episodic memory is in any way altered, as Coutu concurred. It is only the distress - a conditioned reflex - that is dampened.
   
   At best, the theory only applies to conditioned reflex. Still that is not likely. If the theory is correct, there should be no need for repeated training sessions. That repeated training is required suggests new learning is involved - learning to associate a traumatic event with neutral emotion.
   
   Thus, the terms "Erase" and "Memories" in the title doesn't seem appropriate. The title should read something like "Scientists Manipulate Conditioned reflexes".
   
   
   
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. jgrosay 02:40 PM 1/26/12

   The selective erasing of memories is known since the beginning of the past XXth century, it's name is brain washing or destruction of personality, in some science-fiction tales, they call it "imperial conditioning". Probably, equally as memories that are unconvenient for some can be deleted, it's possible, or it will be possible some day not too far, introducing purposedly-made memories, a set of facts than never happened, but the subject identifies as actual, as personality changes can be induced, as behaviour against the subject's convenience or beliefs can be induced, it's just a subject of an adequate pressure for an adequate time, in a way adequate for the desired goal. Most Guantanamo prisoners finished by tellling the whole history, and things as propofol can be used for this. Not knowing we are in an extremely violent and lawless world is childish. Salut +

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. rgcorrgk 02:41 AM 1/27/12

   True story to make a point: Years ago I had a duty to keep a group of malcontents in line (if one refuse I wrote the person’s name down to be turned in for discipline). One day a fellow not only refused to comply, but, pulled a knife & threatening to kill me if I went on with recording his name. I did & he didn’t. Here is the point; it was hours later before the realization that when he held the knife to my chest I had been cut (another soldier notice the blood first). In a traumatic event our mines are focused narrowly on major survival issue and we ignore elements (perhaps this relates to the flawed nature of some eyewitness accounts). But, after things calm down our minds put the picture together.
   Thus I suspect, in nature, traumatic events are generally somewhat flawed and therefore we are wired to make “corrections” when a similar event brings the first trauma to mind. What this mechanism would do is not “erase” the memory, but, rather, improve it.
   
   Richard Carlson
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. Monita 10:22 AM 1/31/12

   Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It did not go well when they didn't remember their past experiences, as traumatic as these were.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. Joseph C Moore, Cpo USN Ret 08:58 PM 2/2/12

   Is this really the answer to mankind's ills? Our medical doctors, research scientists, etc. are all evolving into Dr. Frankenstein clones with pharmaceuticals as the means to a "better world". Don't they understand that nature is not tampered with without malignant repercussions? Why are billions of dollars spent on "the race for the cure" of mankind's ills instead of being spent on "the means of prevention" of disease?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this