It's
difficult to imagine many things that people would welcome more than a
memory-enhancing drug. A memory enhancer could help eliminate forgetting
associated with aging and disease. Furthermore, such a drug could help people
remember past experiences more {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}and
help us acquire new information more easily for school and at work. As
scientists learn more about {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}},we are
closing in on this tantalizing goal. Some of the most exciting
evidence comes from research that has built on earlier findings linking LTP and
memory to identify a gene that improves memory in mice. The gene makes a protein
that assists the NMDA receptor, which plays an important {{U}} {{U}}
3 {{/U}} {{/U}}in long-term memory by helping to initiate LTP. Mice bred
to have extra copies of this gene showed more activity in their NMDA receptors,
more LTP, and {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}performance on several
different memory tasks—learning a spatial layout, recognizing familiar objects,
and recalling a fear-inducing shock. If these basic insights
about genes, LTP, and the synaptic basis of memory can be {{U}} {{U}}
5 {{/U}} {{/U}}to people-and that remains to be seen—they could pave the
way for memory-enhancing treatments. {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}}
{{/U}}steroids for bulking up the muscles, these drugs would bulk up memory. As
exciting as this may {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}, it also raises
troubling issues. Consider the potential educational implications of
memory-enhancing drugs. If memory enhancers were available, children {{U}}
{{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}used them might be able to acquire and retain
extraordinary amounts of information, allowing them to progress far more rapidly
in {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}than they could otherwise. How
well could the brain handle such an onslaught of information? What happens to
children who don't have access to the latest memory enhancers? Are they left
behind in school—and as a result handicapped later in life?
What are the potential implications of memory-enhancing drugs for the workplace?
Imagine that you are {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}for a job that
requires a good memory, such as a manager at a technology company or a sales
position that requires remembering customers' names as well as the attributes of
different products and services. Would you take a memory-enhancing drug to
increase your chances of landing the position? {{U}} {{U}} 11
{{/U}} {{/U}}people who felt uncomfortable taking such a drug find themselves
cut out of lucrative career opportunities? Memory drugs might
also help take the sting out of disturbing memories that we wish we could forget
{{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}can't. The 2004 hit movie
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind told the story of a young man
seeking just such freedom {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}the
painful memories of a romantic breakup. As you will see in the section on
persistence later in the chapter, emotionally arousing events often create
intrusive memories, and researchers have already muted emotional memories with
drugs that block the action of key hormones. Should emergency workers who must
confront horrifying accident scenes that can {{U}} {{U}} 14
{{/U}} {{/U}}them with persisting memories be provided with such drugs? Should
such drugs be given to rape victims who can't forget the trauma? Memory drugs
might provide some relief to such individuals. But could they also interfere
with an individual's ability to assimilate and come to terms with a difficult
experience? We may find ourselves {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}}
{{/U}}these kinds of questions in the not-to-distant future.