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Scientists Reveal How We Can Forget On Purpose
An anonymous reader writes: When people say, "Forget you heard that," they don't usually mean literally. But it turns out that you can stop yourself from remembering, at least on a small scale. People can intentionally forget memories by changing how they think about the context those memories were made in, scientists reported this week in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. In the experiment, people studied a random list of words while viewing pictures of landscapes such as beaches or forests. They were then instructed to either remember or forget those words. The scientists then used an fMRI to track brain activity related to the outdoor scenes they'd planted as context for the word memories. They saw that people who'd been ordered to forget thought less about the context. The better people were at wiping nature-related thoughts from their minds, the fewer words they could later recall from their list.
A bit early for Hillary Clinton to start interviewing for staff when she hasn't won yet.
"They saw that people who'd been ordered to forget thought less about the context. The better people were at wiping nature-related thoughts from their minds, the fewer words they could later recall from their list."
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Occasionally at a previous job, I'd have to use my supervisor's login credentials for something. (Not a good secure setup, but it was what we had to deal with.) It confused her that I had to ask her for the credentials every time. She didn't understand how I could actively forget login credentials that weren't mine.
To me, "deliberately forgetting" and "not bothering to remember" are two slightly different things.
Might have been good to have a third group who weren't told to remember or forget.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Mis-remember?
Alcohol almost does the trick, but it would really be nice to have something that would erase all of my memories up until I was about 20 or so and away from my Christian fundamentalist parents. Complete amnesia might work, too. Not sure if there are many memories I care to have at all. Would not mind waking up in a hospital not having a single memory about my life or anyone in it.
Downside with alcohol is that I can feel my mind beginning to go. If HAL could feel, this must be what he felt like.
Would that even work? I understand that skills such as playing the piano (and presumably programming, server admin, etc) are held elsewhere in the brain. Do amnesia patients still get anxiety attacks in response to situations that resemble past traumas?
At least it would have been if I didn't forget to post earlier. On purpose, of course. Yeah. On purpose.
So you can forget as long as it's not a polar bear... :) (ref: http://www.apa.org/monitor/201...)
The article itself is light on detail and doesn't say whether the "forgetting" was short or long term, which are two very different things.
Various things prevent transfer of a memory from short to long term. If you've had surgery and were given Versed as part of anesthesia, you'll likely experience anterograde amnesia. You'll lose the memories from just before the time you got the Versed.
Concussions are similar. You can lose hours or days of memory (this happened to me once) but you won't lose anything that's already made it to long-term memory.
I suspect this study involved short-term memory, but I can't tell much from the article. Erasing long-term memory would on the face of it seem more difficult.
Disclaimer: I'm not a neurologist and would cheerfully accept correction by more knowledgeable posters.
LISTER: Holly, is there something that you want?
HOLLY: Well, only if you're not busy. Would you mind erasing some of my memory banks?
LISTER: What for?
HOLLY: Well, if you erase all the Agatha Christie novels from my memory bank, I can read 'em again tonight.
LISTER: How do I do it?
HOLLY: Just type, "HolMem. Password override. The novels Christie,Agatha." Then press erase.
LISTER jabs two-fingered on a keyboard.
LISTER: I've done it.
HOLLY: Done what?
LISTER: Erased Agatha Christie.
HOLLY: Who's she, then?
LISTER: Holly, you just asked me to erase all Agatha Christie novels from your memory.
HOLLY: Why should I do that? I've never heard of her.
LISTER: You've never heard of her because I've just erased her from your smegging memory.
HOLLY: What'd you do that for?
LISTER: You asked me to!
HOLLY: When?
LISTER: Just now!
HOLLY: I don't remember this.
LISTER: Oh, I'm going to bed. This is gonna go on all night.
The less specific something is, the less our minds can place it, and so it becomes generic and forgotten. A good way to erase culture, learning, and independent thought.
Hey man, you ever try to remember something.. on weeeeeeed?
No your Hornor, I don't remember my password :)
Why not join the Klatchian Foreign Legion ?
From the L-Space Wiki - http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawi...
"The Klatchian Foreign Legion is an army of expatriates operating in the desert of Klatch (continent). The official purpose of the legion is to guard the rather vague border against neighboring countries as well as the D'regs. It is most commonly joined by people who are trying to put their past behind them as after a short time most people who join have forgotten almost everything, including their names and ranks and the names and ranks of everything and everyone around them, in fact the only thing they seem to reliably remember is the sand. Death tried this once, it didn't last. They also have a famous marching song which goes, 'Er . . .'. "
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos