1
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NARRATOR: Memory... it's
the key to our identity.

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Without memory, we're nothing.

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It's who we are.

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NARRATOR:
But how does it actually work?

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It's a huge mystery.

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NARRATOR: Today, scientists
are probing our brains

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like never before.

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We're seeing a memory being
formed in front of your eyes.

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NARRATOR: Finding clues that
lead us to shocking new places.

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Your memory's not as accurate
as you think it is.

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We can tinker with a specific
memory at will.

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Perhaps Mother Nature

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needs a little bit of tweaking
on the dial.

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NARRATOR:
From editing memories...

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We can implant a false memory.

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NARRATOR:
to deleting our worst fears.

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It was unbelievable.

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I was standing there like,
"How can this be possible?

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I used to be terrified
of spiders."

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We target and even erase
the fear memory itself.

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NARRATOR: Are we approaching the day
where at the flick of a switch,

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we can rewrite our past?

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Being able to use new
technologies to edit memories

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is frightening.

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I think that it's a matter
of when this happens,

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not a matter of if it'll happen.

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NARRATOR: "Memory Hackers,"
right now on<i> NOVA.</i>

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Major funding for<i> NOVA</i> is
provided by the following...

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I remember...

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I remember...

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I remember...

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Hmm...

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NARRATOR:
Memory.

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We know it as a record
of our lives:

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how to find our keys
or recite facts from school.

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But stop and think about it.

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It's so much more.

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From your earliest memory...

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Falling off of a horse
at about five years old.

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When I walked into kindergarten
and I met my best friend.

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About 1925, we moved
to 513 Spring Avenue.

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NARRATOR:
Your happiest...

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When my daughter was born.

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When she, like, came out.

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Seeing a real life human being

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breathe that first breath
of fresh air.

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NARRATOR:
Or saddest...

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The death of my father.

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NARRATOR: We are little but
the sum of our memories.

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DANIELA SCHILLER:
It's who we are.

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That's how we understand
ourselves and our lives.

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NARRATOR: Consider for a moment
just how vivid a memory can be.

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The smells, the sounds...

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I know the shoes, the socks,
the pants and shirt I wore.

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It was like it happened
yesterday.

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I do have a picture in my head.

57
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I can see it!

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That is a remarkably complex
computational process

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that memory achieved

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within milliseconds.

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What an incredible,
powerful gift.

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NARRATOR:
How is this gift possible?

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How does the world
get into our heads

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and turn into a memory?

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How does memory actually work?

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Wow.

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NARRATOR: Turns out that's
one of the biggest mysteries

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in science today.

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If you go and ask most people,

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they would say
they understand memory,

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but the truth is really
rather far from that.

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We sort of understand
the tip of the iceberg.

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RODDY ROEDIGER: We're just
kind of nibbling around

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the big central mystery
of memory:

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how do I bring back in time now

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something that happened to me
long ago?

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It's a very difficult problem
that we haven't solved.

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SCHILLER:
Memory is the biggest mystery.

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It's as big as the question of,
"What is the universe?

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Why are we here?"

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NARRATOR:
Could this 11-year-old boy

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hold one of the keys
to unlocking the mystery?

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On first glance,

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Jake Hausler looks like
a normal fifth grader,

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but as Washington University's
Roddy Roediger is discovering,

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he seems to be anything but.

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ROEDIGER: What happened
Friday, October 28, 2011?

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World Series game seven.

89
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Cardinals won 6-2.

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Who were the pitchers
for the teams?

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Chris Carpenter for St. Louis,
Matt Harrison for the Rangers.

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ANNOUNCER:
The World Champs in 2011!

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We're just getting to know Jake
and just starting to study him.

94
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He's obviously a very bright kid

95
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with a different kind
of very powerful memory.

96
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Let's try a different day here.

97
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How about May 4, 2013?

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That was a Saturday,

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and I saw<i> Iron Man 3.</i>

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He appears to have
a pretty unique ability.

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So he can tell you what he did
years ago to this date,

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and that's very, very unusual,
in and of itself,

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and to find it in a child
is particularly unusual.

104
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When was Osama bin Laden killed?

105
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May 2, 2011 in Pakistan,

106
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May 1, 2011 in U.S.A.

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ROEDIGER:
I mean, it's amazing.

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I've never felt like my memory
was particularly bad,

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but compared to Jake's,
clearly it is.

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It's just a mystery
as to what's going on here.

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NARRATOR:
Jake can remember details

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from almost every day
of his life since age seven.

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Once he started speaking,
really,

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we noticed he was different.

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MOM: What are the 13 colonies?

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Georgia, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Maryland...

117
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DAD: I remember taking him to
the grocery store one time

118
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and he knew where
all the items were by aisle.

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It's a little bit like having
a computer living with you.

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NARRATOR: We'd all remember getting
a pet, but the exact date?

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DAD: What day did I pick
up Gracie in Wisconsin?

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March 31.

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Where did I fly into?

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Minneapolis/St. Paul.

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What did I eat for dinner
the night I was in Wisconsin?

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Cheese curds?

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That is correct.

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(laughing)

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There's no doubt that

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there's something different
going on there.

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NARRATOR: What's different about
Jake is that he has HSAM:

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Highly Superior
Autobiographical Memory.

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Highly Superior, you can
remember days from your life

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in lots of detail, like
what day of the week was it,

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and you can't forget.

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What about 2004?

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NARRATOR: Jim McGaugh is a pioneer
in the science of memory.

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He discovered HSAM 15 years ago.

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McGAUGH: And when did
you meet with me?

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June 28, 2008.

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NARRATOR: So far, out of the
several thousand tested,

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he's discovered 55 adults
who have this amazing ability.

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A Saturday at Panera Bread
in Newport Beach.

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McGAUGH: I can give them any
date, say ten years ago,

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five years ago,
20 years ago, and so on.

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Do you know when
Elvis Presley died?

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August 16, '77.

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And their performance will be
at least 80% correct,

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and maybe 100% correct,

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depending upon
the particular individual.

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NARRATOR: One of the best
memories McGaugh has ever tested

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belongs to someone
you might recognize:

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actress Marilu Henner
from the hit show<i> Taxi.</i>

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I knew as a very young child

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that I had
a very unusual memory.

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They called me Miss Memory,
Miss UNIVAC, The Memory Kid,

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things like that.

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NARRATOR: Name-calling
aside, they're not geniuses.

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In fact, on average,
they have normal IQs.

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They are not superior
in other forms of learning,

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like book learning,

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standard laboratory
learning tasks, and so on.

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I think a misconception,

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as you probably know,
that people have,

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they think it's some type
of autistic savant thing,

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that we're using some type
of mathematical calculation

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like in<i> Rain Man.</i>

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Yeah, defitely not Rain Man.

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NARRATOR: So what gives
them this amazing ability?

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McGaugh has scanned
over a dozen HSAMs

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and found some intriguing hints.

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For example,
an area in the brain

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associated with memory...
the uncinate fasciculus...

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is more active in HSAMs.

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There are some differences
in the brain.

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They're statistically
significant,

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but they have not
given us a pattern

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such that we can say,

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"This is the neurobiological
basis of HSAM."

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What is it about their brains
that enables this ability?

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That's the open question.

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NARRATOR:
And that's where Jake comes in.

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He is the youngest person
ever discovered with HSAM,

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and here
at Washington University,

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scientists are mapping his brain
with new imagingechnologies.

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Over the next year,

187
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they'll test his memory
while doing hundreds of scans.

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All right, Jake,

189
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so what happened
on April 8, 2013?

190
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I went to the St. Louis Zoo.

191
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NARRATOR: When they are finished,
they will have perhaps

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the most comprehensive picture
ever of a child's brain.

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McDERMOTT: We're getting loads
and loads of data on him.

194
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It's very, very exciting.

195
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I mean, to do this
in a normal person

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in this comprehensive a way
would be really exciting,

197
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and to be able to do it
on a child

198
00:09:24,163 --> 00:09:27,399
who has particularly unique
abilities is extra special.

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NARRATOR: Then, they'll compare
Jake's scans to other children's

200
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to see if they can unlock
the secret

201
00:09:32,505 --> 00:09:35,373
of wt makes his memory
so extraordinary.

202
00:09:35,474 --> 00:09:37,609
MAN:
It's a chance of a lifetime.

203
00:09:37,710 --> 00:09:38,810
You can't write a grant saying

204
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we're gonna go look
for someone like him

205
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because you'll never
find him, right?

206
00:09:42,381 --> 00:09:45,917
NARRATOR: The hope is that
this little boy's brain

207
00:09:46,018 --> 00:09:48,219
can help answer
some big questions

208
00:09:48,321 --> 00:09:51,256
about how our memory works.

209
00:09:51,357 --> 00:09:53,091
Jake clearly is able to extract

210
00:09:53,192 --> 00:09:55,112
remarkable amounts
of information from his brain,

211
00:09:55,161 --> 00:09:58,196
but we don't know if you or I
have that information in us,

212
00:09:58,297 --> 00:09:59,537
but we just can't remember it,

213
00:09:59,565 --> 00:10:02,133
or if it just doesn't get
encoded into our brain function

214
00:10:02,234 --> 00:10:03,868
in the first place.

215
00:10:03,970 --> 00:10:05,704
NARRATOR: The mystery with
Jake and the other HSAMs is,

216
00:10:05,805 --> 00:10:09,140
do they actually keep more
memories than the rest of us,

217
00:10:09,241 --> 00:10:12,677
or do we all have this wealth
of detail

218
00:10:12,778 --> 00:10:16,581
buried deep inside our brains...
we just can't get at it?

219
00:10:16,682 --> 00:10:18,583
If we can understand
how he harnesses that,

220
00:10:18,684 --> 00:10:22,287
to be able to generate that
within ourselves

221
00:10:22,388 --> 00:10:23,755
could be a very powerful tool.

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00:10:23,856 --> 00:10:26,291
McGAUGH:
There is potential there

223
00:10:26,392 --> 00:10:29,861
that we will learn something
truly new and important

224
00:10:29,962 --> 00:10:31,229
about the functioning

225
00:10:31,330 --> 00:10:34,366
of the most complicated
and interesting known structure

226
00:10:34,467 --> 00:10:37,102
in the universe,
and that's our brain.

227
00:10:37,203 --> 00:10:40,005
And the most important thing
it does is learn and remember.

228
00:10:44,777 --> 00:10:48,279
NARRATOR:
But what exactly is a memory?

229
00:10:48,381 --> 00:10:52,684
Amazingly, this simple question
has stumped thinkers for ages.

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00:10:52,785 --> 00:10:56,788
Until the 1950s,
few clues emerged,

231
00:10:56,889 --> 00:11:00,392
and then came a single patient
who would change everything.

232
00:11:00,493 --> 00:11:03,294
When I was a young researcher,

233
00:11:03,396 --> 00:11:05,964
learning was learning
and memory was memory,

234
00:11:06,065 --> 00:11:08,265
and it was just, you know,
a thing that happens.

235
00:11:08,334 --> 00:11:11,770
And then along came the findings
of Brenda Milner

236
00:11:11,871 --> 00:11:14,005
and her subject, HM.

237
00:11:14,106 --> 00:11:16,908
NARRATOR:
HM stands for Henry Molaison,

238
00:11:17,009 --> 00:11:20,145
patient zero
in the study of memory.

239
00:11:20,246 --> 00:11:22,480
After a childhood
bicycle accident,

240
00:11:22,581 --> 00:11:26,718
Molaison began to suffer
severe epileptic seizures.

241
00:11:26,819 --> 00:11:28,887
To try and quell those seizures,

242
00:11:28,988 --> 00:11:31,690
neurosurgeons performed
an operation

243
00:11:31,791 --> 00:11:34,225
where they removed
the parts of his brain

244
00:11:34,326 --> 00:11:36,828
that they thought were creating
those seizures.

245
00:11:36,929 --> 00:11:38,496
NARRATOR:
Much of what they removed

246
00:11:38,597 --> 00:11:40,999
came from a part of the brain
called the hippocampus.

247
00:11:41,100 --> 00:11:45,003
After the surgery,
his seizures were gone,

248
00:11:45,104 --> 00:11:47,572
but there was
an alarming side effect.

249
00:11:47,673 --> 00:11:49,553
WALKER:
From that point forward,

250
00:11:49,642 --> 00:11:52,077
he could no longer make
any new memories.

251
00:11:52,178 --> 00:11:54,446
He was what we call
"densely amnesic."

252
00:11:54,547 --> 00:11:58,450
NARRATOR:
It could only mean one thing:

253
00:11:58,551 --> 00:12:01,019
the hippocampus must be
the part of the brain

254
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,723
responsible for creating
new long-term memories.

255
00:12:04,824 --> 00:12:07,025
This in itself
was a breakthrough,

256
00:12:07,126 --> 00:12:09,094
but that was just the start.

257
00:12:09,195 --> 00:12:11,635
BRENDA MILNER (recording): Do you
know what you did yesterday?

258
00:12:11,664 --> 00:12:13,364
HM (recording):
No, I don't.

259
00:12:13,466 --> 00:12:17,702
MILNER (recording):
How about this morning?

260
00:12:17,803 --> 00:12:21,139
NARRATOR: Brenda Milner wanted
to know, despite his amnesia,

261
00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,542
could he still have
some form of memory?

262
00:12:24,643 --> 00:12:26,377
BRENDA MILNER:
He was a very nice person.

263
00:12:26,479 --> 00:12:28,680
He was very cooperative.

264
00:12:28,781 --> 00:12:32,584
Fortunately for us, he liked
doing tests, he liked puzzles.

265
00:12:32,685 --> 00:12:37,088
NARRATOR: So she came up with a
puzzle to trace a star shape

266
00:12:37,189 --> 00:12:39,524
using only a mirror
to see his hand.

267
00:12:39,625 --> 00:12:41,493
MILNER: If you try this,
it's jolly difficult,

268
00:12:41,594 --> 00:12:46,097
but normal subjects,
with practice, a few trials,

269
00:12:46,198 --> 00:12:48,032
learn to do this thing.

270
00:12:48,134 --> 00:12:50,974
NARRATOR: Because HM appeared
to have zero ability

271
00:12:51,036 --> 00:12:55,507
to make new long-term memories,
he should be hopeless.

272
00:12:55,608 --> 00:12:57,128
He shouldn't be able
to learn anything.

273
00:12:57,209 --> 00:12:58,476
How's he going to do?

274
00:12:58,577 --> 00:13:00,445
I didn't know, I didn't know,
I had no idea.

275
00:13:00,546 --> 00:13:04,415
NARRATOR: And in fact, every
time Milner asked him to train,

276
00:13:04,517 --> 00:13:07,819
he claimed he'd never done
the task before.

277
00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,555
But his performance
betrayed him.

278
00:13:10,656 --> 00:13:13,291
He got better and better,
until...

279
00:13:16,095 --> 00:13:18,930
I was so excited,
because this was a breakthrough.

280
00:13:19,031 --> 00:13:22,100
He can't remember
the events of his life,

281
00:13:22,201 --> 00:13:26,137
but it seems that he can
possibly learn motor skills.

282
00:13:26,238 --> 00:13:30,074
NARRATOR: The fact that HM
could remember motor skills

283
00:13:30,176 --> 00:13:32,377
but not new events in his life

284
00:13:32,478 --> 00:13:36,648
meant that memory couldn't be
just one thing.

285
00:13:36,749 --> 00:13:38,883
We had to leave behind
the notion

286
00:13:38,984 --> 00:13:41,085
there was just
one kind of memory.

287
00:13:41,187 --> 00:13:43,755
We now knew that there are
different kinds of memory,

288
00:13:43,856 --> 00:13:45,423
and those different kinds
of memories

289
00:13:45,524 --> 00:13:48,893
depend on different parts
of the brain.

290
00:13:48,994 --> 00:13:52,030
NARRATOR: Knowing where memories
are in the brain is one thing,

291
00:13:52,131 --> 00:13:54,032
but how do they get there?

292
00:13:54,133 --> 00:13:56,301
How does a long-term memory

293
00:13:56,402 --> 00:14:00,038
get written in the brain
in the first place?

294
00:14:00,139 --> 00:14:02,006
These are the questions
that have driven.

295
00:14:02,107 --> 00:14:07,111
Nobel Prize-winner Eric Kandel
for over 60 years.

296
00:14:07,213 --> 00:14:11,449
It all started back in Vienna
on his ninth birthday.

297
00:14:11,550 --> 00:14:15,420
ERIC KANDEL: I received a
marvelous little toy car

298
00:14:15,521 --> 00:14:20,291
that I drove with great pleasure
through our small apartment.

299
00:14:21,994 --> 00:14:24,229
NARRATOR: Two days later
was Kristallnacht,

300
00:14:24,330 --> 00:14:27,532
the infamous Night
of Broken Glass.

301
00:14:27,633 --> 00:14:29,367
In that violent prelude
to the Holocaust,

302
00:14:29,468 --> 00:14:32,537
thousands of Nazi soldiers
stormed the Jewish neighborhoods

303
00:14:32,638 --> 00:14:34,038
in Vienna.

304
00:14:34,139 --> 00:14:35,907
KANDEL:
November 9,

305
00:14:36,008 --> 00:14:41,279
there was a knock on the door,
and two Nazi policemen came in

306
00:14:41,380 --> 00:14:43,948
and said,
"Pack all your things."

307
00:14:47,953 --> 00:14:51,890
When we came back a week later,
everything of value is gone,

308
00:14:51,991 --> 00:14:53,858
including my little toy car.

309
00:14:53,959 --> 00:14:55,627
That was a very painful
experience.

310
00:14:55,728 --> 00:14:59,998
NARRATOR: A painful experience
that would define his life's work.

311
00:15:00,099 --> 00:15:01,833
KANDEL: Everyone who went
through the Holocaust,

312
00:15:01,934 --> 00:15:03,701
there are memories that
you can never forget.

313
00:15:03,802 --> 00:15:06,337
NARRATOR:
Kandel wanted to know:

314
00:15:06,438 --> 00:15:08,840
how did that experience
become a memory

315
00:15:08,941 --> 00:15:11,376
he would carry with him
for life?

316
00:15:11,477 --> 00:15:14,779
That got me interested in
psychology and psychoanalysis.

317
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:16,814
And when I got interested
in that, I said,

318
00:15:16,916 --> 00:15:19,651
"What's the central question
in psychoanalysis?"

319
00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:21,319
It's memory,
how we recall things.

320
00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:23,554
NARRATOR:
But where to start?

321
00:15:23,656 --> 00:15:26,724
His biggest lead was Milner's
early work with HM.

322
00:15:26,825 --> 00:15:31,562
The hippocampus is crucial
for forming new memories.

323
00:15:31,664 --> 00:15:33,131
But how do they get there?

324
00:15:33,232 --> 00:15:37,101
Could there be a physical
mechanism on the cellular level?

325
00:15:37,202 --> 00:15:38,736
KANDEL:
So I thought I would record

326
00:15:38,837 --> 00:15:40,371
from single cells
in the hippocampus,

327
00:15:40,472 --> 00:15:42,540
and those cells
would be so unique,

328
00:15:42,641 --> 00:15:44,042
they would speak to me
of memory storage.

329
00:15:44,143 --> 00:15:45,576
NARRATOR:
Within months,

330
00:15:45,678 --> 00:15:49,580
he was able to record the sound
of hippocampal neurons firing.

331
00:15:49,682 --> 00:15:51,249
KANDEL:
Our colleagues were euphoric.

332
00:15:51,350 --> 00:15:53,790
But we didn't learn a darn thing
about learning and memory.

333
00:15:53,886 --> 00:15:57,422
So I realized one needed to take
a reductionist approach,

334
00:15:57,523 --> 00:15:59,257
and I thought I would use
a simple animal

335
00:15:59,358 --> 00:16:01,259
with a simple nervous system,
simple behavior,

336
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:02,593
and try to study that.

337
00:16:02,695 --> 00:16:06,931
NARRATOR: Enter Aplysia
Californica, a giant sea slug

338
00:16:07,032 --> 00:16:10,101
with one of the simplest nervous
systems in the animal kingdom.

339
00:16:10,202 --> 00:16:13,171
KANDEL: One of the great
giants in the field

340
00:16:13,272 --> 00:16:15,673
thought I was throwing
my career away.

341
00:16:15,774 --> 00:16:18,710
In my naiveté, I was confident
that this would be right.

342
00:16:18,811 --> 00:16:22,313
NARRATOR: He thought if he could
just isolate the cellular changes

343
00:16:22,414 --> 00:16:25,483
that occurred when Aplysia
learns simple tasks,

344
00:16:25,584 --> 00:16:28,753
it would be the key
to understanding our memory.

345
00:16:28,854 --> 00:16:30,121
Humans have neurons.

346
00:16:30,222 --> 00:16:31,489
Sea slugs have neurons.

347
00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:33,291
They're not that different,
right?

348
00:16:33,392 --> 00:16:34,826
Even at the level of DNA,

349
00:16:34,927 --> 00:16:37,495
our DNA's not so terribly
different.

350
00:16:37,596 --> 00:16:39,998
The same fundamental kinds
of changes

351
00:16:40,099 --> 00:16:43,634
should underlie memory.

352
00:16:43,736 --> 00:16:45,937
NARRATOR: To test his
hypothesis, Kandel's first step

353
00:16:46,038 --> 00:16:48,940
was to create a memory
in the sea slug.

354
00:16:49,041 --> 00:16:52,543
To do that, he trained it
to fear a light touch.

355
00:16:52,644 --> 00:16:56,381
KANDEL: If you touch it in the
siphon, it'll withdraw the siphon.

356
00:16:56,482 --> 00:16:59,450
NARRATOR: The siphon is
the slug's water spout.

357
00:16:59,551 --> 00:17:02,787
When it is touched, it also
withdraws its gill slightly

358
00:17:02,888 --> 00:17:04,555
as a protective reflex.

359
00:17:04,656 --> 00:17:06,324
But pair that touch...

360
00:17:06,425 --> 00:17:07,859
KANDEL:
Touch, shock.

361
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:12,530
NARRATOR: with a mild shock,
you get a much stronger reaction.

362
00:17:12,631 --> 00:17:15,967
And do it repeatedly...

363
00:17:16,068 --> 00:17:18,770
Now when you touch
the animal's siphon again,

364
00:17:18,871 --> 00:17:21,572
even weeks later,
without a shock,

365
00:17:21,673 --> 00:17:24,542
it reacts as if it got shocked.

366
00:17:24,643 --> 00:17:29,814
Somehow, it remembers that
that light touch means shock.

367
00:17:29,915 --> 00:17:33,518
It has formed
a long-lasting memory.

368
00:17:33,619 --> 00:17:37,055
The question is, how?

369
00:17:37,156 --> 00:17:38,556
Kandel had a hunch.

370
00:17:38,657 --> 00:17:41,526
If he could just replicate
that touch experiment

371
00:17:41,627 --> 00:17:42,994
with single cells,

372
00:17:43,095 --> 00:17:45,163
he could see exactly what was
going on to make a memory.

373
00:17:45,264 --> 00:17:48,366
KANDEL: We could take the
cells out of the animal

374
00:17:48,467 --> 00:17:50,134
and put it into the cell culture

375
00:17:50,235 --> 00:17:52,670
and reconstruct
the neural circuit.

376
00:17:52,771 --> 00:17:54,572
We could look at each level

377
00:17:54,673 --> 00:17:57,575
and see what happens
with long-term memory.

378
00:17:57,676 --> 00:17:59,716
MARTIN:
That was this huge breakthrough.

379
00:17:59,745 --> 00:18:01,879
What Eric Kandel really did was

380
00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:04,715
he took this sort of phenomenon
of memory

381
00:18:04,817 --> 00:18:08,019
and turned it
into a biological question.

382
00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:10,455
"What are the changes
that are happening

383
00:18:10,556 --> 00:18:13,057
that give rise to memory?"

384
00:18:13,158 --> 00:18:14,559
NARRATOR:
To find out,

385
00:18:14,660 --> 00:18:19,464
Kandel's team extracted
two neurons from the sea slug.

386
00:18:19,565 --> 00:18:22,300
This is a sensory neuron
from its siphon,

387
00:18:22,401 --> 00:18:25,470
and that's a motor neuron
from the tail.

388
00:18:25,571 --> 00:18:28,573
They are connected
by a single synapse.

389
00:18:28,674 --> 00:18:30,741
KANDEL: The synapse is
the point of contact

390
00:18:30,843 --> 00:18:33,211
where one neuron
talks to another.

391
00:18:35,147 --> 00:18:37,615
NARRATOR: Then, to simulate
a long-term memory

392
00:18:37,716 --> 00:18:39,784
just like with the live animal,

393
00:18:39,885 --> 00:18:43,454
Kandel repeatedly stimulated
the sensory neuron.

394
00:18:43,555 --> 00:18:48,559
And when he did, suddenly
something magical happened.

395
00:18:48,660 --> 00:18:54,031
New synaptic connections
started to grow.

396
00:18:54,133 --> 00:18:56,734
KANDEL: This made us
realize for the first time

397
00:18:56,835 --> 00:18:58,736
that long-term memory
actually involves

398
00:18:58,837 --> 00:19:01,105
an anatomical change
in the brain

399
00:19:01,206 --> 00:19:04,408
whereby new connections
are being formed.

400
00:19:04,510 --> 00:19:06,244
And that just really
blew us away

401
00:19:06,345 --> 00:19:07,378
the first time we saw it.

402
00:19:07,479 --> 00:19:10,148
JOE LEDOUX:
That was a phenomenal discovery

403
00:19:10,249 --> 00:19:12,650
because it showed us
for the first time

404
00:19:12,751 --> 00:19:14,886
that memory involves
a structural physical change

405
00:19:14,987 --> 00:19:15,887
in the brain.

406
00:19:15,988 --> 00:19:17,555
That became the foundation

407
00:19:17,656 --> 00:19:19,891
for our whole conceptual basis
for understanding memory.

408
00:19:19,992 --> 00:19:21,692
NARRATOR:
Using today's technology,

409
00:19:21,793 --> 00:19:24,295
you can witness this process
first-hand.

410
00:19:24,396 --> 00:19:27,932
This shows you the nucleus
in the cell.

411
00:19:28,033 --> 00:19:31,836
NARRATOR: After repeated
stimulation, the neuron's nucleus

412
00:19:31,937 --> 00:19:36,607
starts to pump out these tiny
glowing specks called mRNA,

413
00:19:36,708 --> 00:19:39,143
recipes for building proteins.

414
00:19:39,244 --> 00:19:41,579
They're about to travel
down to the synapse

415
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:46,384
with instructions
to build new connections.

416
00:19:46,485 --> 00:19:48,419
And you see
this magnificent voyage

417
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,288
that this particle,

418
00:19:50,389 --> 00:19:53,791
which is carrying messenger RNA
to the synapses.

419
00:19:53,892 --> 00:19:57,595
NARRATOR: When it gets there,
the instructions are released

420
00:19:57,696 --> 00:20:02,700
and the new connections grow,
seen here in green.

421
00:20:02,801 --> 00:20:05,937
We're seeing a memory being
formed in front of your eyes.

422
00:20:06,038 --> 00:20:08,773
These anatomical changes occur
in your brain

423
00:20:08,874 --> 00:20:11,542
when you learn
and remember something.

424
00:20:11,643 --> 00:20:15,313
NARRATOR: From sea slugs to
humans, these physical changes

425
00:20:15,414 --> 00:20:20,017
are considered
the biological basis of memory.

426
00:20:20,118 --> 00:20:21,752
It's an article of faith
at this point

427
00:20:21,853 --> 00:20:24,188
that the mechanisms
that he has uncovered

428
00:20:24,289 --> 00:20:28,159
are fundamental ones to learning
and memory for all of us.

429
00:20:30,162 --> 00:20:33,397
NARRATOR: Kandel's work launched
a new way of probing memory,

430
00:20:33,498 --> 00:20:37,602
grounded in biology and built
around a simple premise:

431
00:20:37,703 --> 00:20:40,171
the growth of new connections

432
00:20:40,272 --> 00:20:42,607
is what allows a memory
to persist

433
00:20:42,708 --> 00:20:46,310
for days, months, even years.

434
00:20:46,411 --> 00:20:49,080
But that was just a piece
of the picture,

435
00:20:49,181 --> 00:20:51,749
a basic mechanism
for how memory works

436
00:20:51,850 --> 00:20:54,752
at the level of single cells.

437
00:20:54,853 --> 00:20:59,323
Even in a sea slug, a memory
is made up of about 50 neurons

438
00:20:59,424 --> 00:21:01,826
out of 20,000.

439
00:21:01,927 --> 00:21:04,495
In a human, it's more like
tens of thousands

440
00:21:04,596 --> 00:21:07,198
out of 100 billion.

441
00:21:07,299 --> 00:21:11,969
Somehow, it's this network
that stores a memory.

442
00:21:12,070 --> 00:21:14,005
Which begs the question:

443
00:21:14,106 --> 00:21:19,043
where exactly does a particular
memory live in us?

444
00:21:19,144 --> 00:21:21,379
To this day,
that remains a mystery,

445
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,814
but we aren't without clues.

446
00:21:23,915 --> 00:21:27,184
In the last 25 years,
new imaging tools

447
00:21:27,286 --> 00:21:29,387
have allowed a generation
of explorers

448
00:21:29,488 --> 00:21:32,390
to chart memory
in the human brain.

449
00:21:32,491 --> 00:21:35,660
And today, we can finally begin
to draw a rough map

450
00:21:35,761 --> 00:21:39,797
of where some of our most
treasured memories live.

451
00:21:39,898 --> 00:21:41,632
Take something like
a first kiss.

452
00:21:41,733 --> 00:21:44,235
Most people remember
their first kiss.

453
00:21:45,971 --> 00:21:47,471
Do I remember my first kiss?

454
00:21:47,572 --> 00:21:49,907
(laughing)

455
00:21:50,008 --> 00:21:51,776
I do.

456
00:21:51,877 --> 00:21:53,844
When did I kiss that girl?

457
00:21:55,547 --> 00:21:58,916
There was this Italian,
this dashing Italian.

458
00:21:59,017 --> 00:22:01,385
MAN: She was like, "This is something
people do who like each other,"

459
00:22:01,486 --> 00:22:04,088
and I was, "Okay, I like you."

460
00:22:04,189 --> 00:22:06,324
MAN:
I remember, you know,

461
00:22:06,425 --> 00:22:10,928
sort of planning this kiss
for, like, a week!

462
00:22:11,029 --> 00:22:15,800
Her friend whispered to me,
"Make a move and walk faster."

463
00:22:15,901 --> 00:22:18,021
And all of a sudden,
Lauren and I were alone

464
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:19,303
in kind of a grove of trees.

465
00:22:19,404 --> 00:22:22,673
He takes my face like this
and plants one on me!

466
00:22:26,478 --> 00:22:29,580
It was like the universe
exploded or something like that.

467
00:22:29,681 --> 00:22:33,351
It just felt like suddenly,
everything was different.

468
00:22:34,886 --> 00:22:37,822
MATT WALKER: The question becomes
then, where is the memory?

469
00:22:37,923 --> 00:22:39,963
And what we started
to understand is that

470
00:22:40,058 --> 00:22:42,860
there isn't a nicely
sort of packaged memory

471
00:22:42,961 --> 00:22:45,296
that's sort of folded up
like a letter

472
00:22:45,397 --> 00:22:47,365
and placed inside of an envelope

473
00:22:47,466 --> 00:22:49,633
in one specific area
of the brain.

474
00:22:51,670 --> 00:22:53,437
Different parts of memories

475
00:22:53,538 --> 00:22:57,208
are coded in different locations
of the brain.

476
00:22:57,309 --> 00:22:59,377
Think about your first kiss.

477
00:22:59,478 --> 00:23:02,313
The visual elements are coded
at the back of the brain

478
00:23:02,414 --> 00:23:04,048
in the visual cortex.

479
00:23:04,149 --> 00:23:07,785
The smell components are coded
in the olfactory cortex

480
00:23:07,886 --> 00:23:09,120
just above the nose.

481
00:23:09,221 --> 00:23:11,789
The motoric,
the kinesthetic elements,

482
00:23:11,890 --> 00:23:14,625
they're coded up here
in the motor cortex.

483
00:23:14,726 --> 00:23:16,861
The emotional elements are coded

484
00:23:16,962 --> 00:23:19,830
in deep brain structures
like the amygdala.

485
00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,199
And together,
it is the hippocampus

486
00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:24,135
that is going to grab ahold

487
00:23:24,236 --> 00:23:27,238
of those individual
brain anatomical areas,

488
00:23:27,339 --> 00:23:29,673
those balloons of information,

489
00:23:29,775 --> 00:23:32,076
and it is going
to bind them together

490
00:23:32,177 --> 00:23:37,281
and produces a memory that
you're capable of remembering.

491
00:23:37,382 --> 00:23:39,150
NARRATOR: So if different
parts of a memory

492
00:23:39,251 --> 00:23:40,885
live in different parts
of the brain,

493
00:23:40,986 --> 00:23:43,154
and we know that the growth
of new connections

494
00:23:43,255 --> 00:23:45,156
is important for storing them,

495
00:23:45,257 --> 00:23:47,725
that would suggest that
every memory

496
00:23:47,826 --> 00:23:50,928
is physically tattooed
onto our brains.

497
00:23:51,029 --> 00:23:54,532
So how come we don't
remember them all?

498
00:23:54,633 --> 00:23:57,034
The question is, if there are
these structural changes

499
00:23:57,135 --> 00:23:59,036
that give rise to memory,

500
00:23:59,137 --> 00:24:02,640
but memories are changeable
and dynamic,

501
00:24:02,741 --> 00:24:03,741
how can that be?

502
00:24:05,844 --> 00:24:07,912
NARRATOR:
Perhaps the answer can be found

503
00:24:08,013 --> 00:24:10,781
in the act of remembering
itself.

504
00:24:10,882 --> 00:24:12,616
Think about it:

505
00:24:12,717 --> 00:24:16,554
a memory only comes alive
when you recall it.

506
00:24:16,655 --> 00:24:18,622
What happens in your brain

507
00:24:18,723 --> 00:24:21,659
each time you recollect
a past experience?

508
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,295
That's what Karim Nader
wondered.

509
00:24:24,396 --> 00:24:27,531
His quest for answers started
when he was a grad student

510
00:24:27,632 --> 00:24:29,500
at one of Kandel's lectures.

511
00:24:29,601 --> 00:24:31,101
Eric Kandel came
and gave this brilliant talk.

512
00:24:31,203 --> 00:24:32,903
You know, there are examples
for this...

513
00:24:33,004 --> 00:24:34,271
NADER:
He had beautiful pictures

514
00:24:34,372 --> 00:24:37,575
showing that synapses
could grow over time.

515
00:24:37,676 --> 00:24:39,210
The work is very elegant.

516
00:24:39,311 --> 00:24:40,878
It took everyone's breath away.

517
00:24:40,979 --> 00:24:45,115
NARRATOR: Looking at those
pictures gave Nader an idea.

518
00:24:45,217 --> 00:24:47,885
NADER: "Hey, why would all of
this have happened just once?"

519
00:24:47,986 --> 00:24:50,354
"Wouldn't it be cool
if all of this happened again

520
00:24:50,455 --> 00:24:51,856
when you recall the memory?"

521
00:24:53,558 --> 00:24:56,393
NARRATOR: If Kandel's
work helped establish

522
00:24:56,495 --> 00:24:58,162
that memories can't form

523
00:24:58,263 --> 00:25:01,165
without new proteins
that build new connections,

524
00:25:01,266 --> 00:25:02,933
what happens
to those connections

525
00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:06,670
when you remember something?

526
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,010
At the time, memory was pictured
kind of like a library.

527
00:25:13,111 --> 00:25:16,146
The underlying dogma was that
when you formed a memory,

528
00:25:16,248 --> 00:25:19,750
it was filed away in your brain,
and that's it.

529
00:25:19,851 --> 00:25:21,018
It was there now forever.

530
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,622
NARRATOR:
It's called consolidation.

531
00:25:24,723 --> 00:25:26,423
RAMIREZ:
You can't modify it, it just is.

532
00:25:26,525 --> 00:25:28,125
It's just in the brain.

533
00:25:28,226 --> 00:25:30,828
NARRATOR: So when you
remember your first kiss,

534
00:25:30,929 --> 00:25:35,799
you pull out that book,
look at it, and put it back.

535
00:25:35,901 --> 00:25:38,802
Though it may fade over time
or get lost in the stacks,

536
00:25:38,904 --> 00:25:42,640
the original story, or memory,
is always still there.

537
00:25:42,741 --> 00:25:45,776
Nader wondered,
"Could this really be true?

538
00:25:45,877 --> 00:25:49,647
"Or is it possible that just
the act of recalling the memory

539
00:25:49,748 --> 00:25:52,616
could rewrite the story?"

540
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:57,988
To find out, Nader designed
an experiment.

541
00:25:58,089 --> 00:26:00,658
JOE LEDOUX: When Karim told me
he wanted to do that experiment,

542
00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:01,725
I probably said something like,

543
00:26:01,826 --> 00:26:03,160
"Don't do it,
don't waste your time."

544
00:26:03,261 --> 00:26:05,329
But being a smart guy,
he went off and did it.

545
00:26:05,430 --> 00:26:10,100
NARRATOR: So Nader decided
to put his idea to the test.

546
00:26:10,201 --> 00:26:14,405
He started by training rats
to fear the sound of a tone...

547
00:26:14,506 --> 00:26:15,506
(ringing)

548
00:26:15,574 --> 00:26:16,740
Okay, so there's the tone.

549
00:26:16,841 --> 00:26:20,144
NARRATOR: by pairing
it with a mild shock.

550
00:26:20,245 --> 00:26:21,679
Now there's the shock.

551
00:26:23,348 --> 00:26:26,450
So right now he's really scared,
he doesn't like this at all.

552
00:26:26,551 --> 00:26:29,520
NARRATOR:
Just like Kandel's sea slugs,

553
00:26:29,621 --> 00:26:32,856
the rats quickly learn
to fear the tone alone.

554
00:26:32,958 --> 00:26:35,726
They have formed a long-term
memory that the tone

555
00:26:35,827 --> 00:26:37,928
predicts shock.

556
00:26:38,029 --> 00:26:39,396
So every time it hears
the tone...

557
00:26:39,497 --> 00:26:41,465
(ringing)

558
00:26:41,566 --> 00:26:43,667
NADER: So you see, even
though there's no shock,

559
00:26:43,768 --> 00:26:46,837
the animal's freezing,
it's afraid.

560
00:26:46,938 --> 00:26:49,340
NARRATOR: We know the rats'
brains have built new connections

561
00:26:49,441 --> 00:26:50,975
to store the memory.

562
00:26:51,076 --> 00:26:53,177
But what happens
to those connections

563
00:26:53,278 --> 00:26:56,747
when the rat recalls the memory?

564
00:26:56,848 --> 00:26:58,015
(ringing)

565
00:26:58,116 --> 00:27:01,485
To find out, Nader first plays
the tone to remind the rat

566
00:27:01,586 --> 00:27:05,255
of his fear,
and when he freezes...

567
00:27:05,357 --> 00:27:09,193
The next part is gonna be giving
him a compound directly.

568
00:27:09,294 --> 00:27:11,595
NARRATOR:
The compound is anisomycin,

569
00:27:11,696 --> 00:27:13,797
a drug known
to block the proteins needed

570
00:27:13,898 --> 00:27:17,368
to build the connections
that store new memories.

571
00:27:17,469 --> 00:27:20,504
But Nader's rats have already
formed the memory;

572
00:27:20,605 --> 00:27:22,840
they're just recalling it.

573
00:27:22,941 --> 00:27:26,377
If memory consolidation really
is like a book in a library,

574
00:27:26,478 --> 00:27:28,879
the drug should have no effect.

575
00:27:28,980 --> 00:27:31,715
The rats' brains should have
built a permanent memory

576
00:27:31,816 --> 00:27:34,485
and they should still freeze
when they hear the tone.

577
00:27:34,586 --> 00:27:36,587
NADER: So if the memory
is wired in the brain,

578
00:27:36,688 --> 00:27:38,689
this drug should have
absolutely no effect.

579
00:27:38,790 --> 00:27:41,551
NARRATOR: But now when
Nader plays the tone...

580
00:27:41,593 --> 00:27:42,960
(ringing)

581
00:27:43,061 --> 00:27:44,981
NADER:
Oh my God, so now you see.

582
00:27:45,063 --> 00:27:46,563
NARRATOR:
He keeps moving.

583
00:27:46,665 --> 00:27:49,066
You would think that the animal
should be freezing if it

584
00:27:49,167 --> 00:27:51,835
still had the memory there,
but now it's acting as if

585
00:27:51,936 --> 00:27:53,837
the memory has been erased
from its mind.

586
00:27:53,938 --> 00:27:57,641
NARRATOR: As if it never learned to
fear the tone in the first place.

587
00:27:57,742 --> 00:28:00,377
The memory appears to be gone.

588
00:28:00,478 --> 00:28:01,645
My jaw just dropped.

589
00:28:01,746 --> 00:28:02,713
I just couldn't believe it.

590
00:28:02,814 --> 00:28:05,616
So I ran into
my supervisor's office going,

591
00:28:05,717 --> 00:28:07,051
"Holy (bleep) (bleep) (bleep),

592
00:28:07,152 --> 00:28:08,672
I can't (bleep) believe
this happened."

593
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,156
I mean the probability of this
happening is like zero, right?

594
00:28:12,257 --> 00:28:15,959
NARRATOR: Because a drug known to
block the formation of new memories

595
00:28:16,061 --> 00:28:20,030
also blocked them during recall,
it means the act of remembering

596
00:28:20,131 --> 00:28:23,901
must make memories
vulnerable to change.

597
00:28:24,002 --> 00:28:25,402
In other words:

598
00:28:25,503 --> 00:28:27,171
It's not this you have a memory,
you encode it,

599
00:28:27,272 --> 00:28:28,706
and it's stuck there.

600
00:28:28,807 --> 00:28:31,208
But instead what it means
is that every time

601
00:28:31,309 --> 00:28:36,580
that memory is recalled,
it is vulnerable to alteration.

602
00:28:36,681 --> 00:28:39,216
Nader's discovery that any time
you recall the memory

603
00:28:39,317 --> 00:28:43,320
you essentially disrupt it
was a significant advance.

604
00:28:43,421 --> 00:28:45,856
It changes everything we think
about memory.

605
00:28:49,027 --> 00:28:50,894
It turns out memory
is not at all actually

606
00:28:50,995 --> 00:28:53,197
like putting a book away
in the library of the brain,

607
00:28:53,298 --> 00:28:55,899
but it's more like bringing up
a file on your computer,

608
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,335
constantly modifying that file.

609
00:28:58,436 --> 00:29:00,804
NARRATOR: The theory is, every
time you recall something,

610
00:29:00,905 --> 00:29:04,007
you have to pull it up
off the hard drive to view it.

611
00:29:04,109 --> 00:29:06,110
To return it
to long-term memory,

612
00:29:06,211 --> 00:29:09,413
you have to hit "save"
and reconsolidate the memory

613
00:29:09,514 --> 00:29:13,317
by creating new proteins
to essentially rewire the memory

614
00:29:13,418 --> 00:29:15,686
into your brain.

615
00:29:15,787 --> 00:29:18,222
Imagine something precious
in a box.

616
00:29:18,323 --> 00:29:21,825
And then each time you take it
out, it changes a little bit.

617
00:29:21,926 --> 00:29:23,093
And then you put it back.

618
00:29:23,194 --> 00:29:24,762
Then take it out,
changes a little bit.

619
00:29:24,863 --> 00:29:26,230
That's how your memory works.

620
00:29:26,331 --> 00:29:29,251
NARRATOR: The idea that the
simple act of remembering

621
00:29:29,334 --> 00:29:31,668
could make your memories
vulnerable to change

622
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:35,539
transformed our understanding
of memory.

623
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,408
Within a few years, Nader's
findings were replicated

624
00:29:38,510 --> 00:29:43,046
in dozens of species and led
to over a thousand experiments,

625
00:29:43,148 --> 00:29:44,508
even reportedly inspired
the movie.

626
00:29:44,549 --> 00:29:47,684
<i>Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind.</i>

627
00:29:47,786 --> 00:29:49,186
MARK RUFFALO:
Just focus on the memories.

628
00:29:49,287 --> 00:29:51,088
Here at Lacuna,
we have a safe technique

629
00:29:51,189 --> 00:29:54,224
for the focused erasure
of troubling memories.

630
00:29:54,325 --> 00:29:58,228
NARRATOR: But what if this isn't
just the stuff of movies?

631
00:29:58,329 --> 00:30:01,498
What if it's possible to use
reconsolidation in humans?

632
00:30:01,599 --> 00:30:04,001
Perhaps to erase
certain memories,

633
00:30:04,102 --> 00:30:06,603
like the ones
that keep you up at night.

634
00:30:06,704 --> 00:30:07,971
MAN:
Heights...

635
00:30:08,072 --> 00:30:09,072
I'm terrified of heights.

636
00:30:09,174 --> 00:30:11,308
WOMAN:
I don't want to be on a ladder.

637
00:30:11,409 --> 00:30:12,709
I don't want to be
on the second floor.

638
00:30:12,811 --> 00:30:15,012
I don't like to be looking down.

639
00:30:15,113 --> 00:30:16,680
I can't tell you the last time
I've been in a pool,

640
00:30:16,781 --> 00:30:18,715
I can't tell you the last time
I've owned a bathing suit.

641
00:30:18,817 --> 00:30:21,151
But, I mean, the water gets like
probably right here,

642
00:30:21,252 --> 00:30:22,653
and it's like the...
(hyperventilating)

643
00:30:22,754 --> 00:30:24,488
Elevators.
(chuckles)

644
00:30:26,691 --> 00:30:27,591
Snakes are the worst.

645
00:30:27,692 --> 00:30:29,393
I don't know what it is
about bees,

646
00:30:29,494 --> 00:30:32,563
but I just can't...
I can't be around them.

647
00:30:32,664 --> 00:30:33,664
Spiders.

648
00:30:33,765 --> 00:30:36,366
I'm petrified of spiders.

649
00:30:36,467 --> 00:30:38,001
Even the smallest ones.

650
00:30:38,102 --> 00:30:39,102
Terrified.

651
00:30:40,138 --> 00:30:42,298
If I see a spider
I don't want to come near it.

652
00:30:44,876 --> 00:30:47,377
I'm really scared of spiders.

653
00:30:47,478 --> 00:30:49,980
Or at least I used to be.

654
00:30:50,081 --> 00:30:52,850
But now I'm just completely
relaxed sitting here

655
00:30:52,951 --> 00:30:54,384
with a tarantula.

656
00:30:54,485 --> 00:30:56,186
And it's really crazy.

657
00:30:56,287 --> 00:30:58,388
NARRATOR: Ever since
she was a little girl,

658
00:30:58,489 --> 00:31:02,759
Sasha de Waal has been plagued
by her fear of spiders.

659
00:31:02,861 --> 00:31:05,362
But thanks to a new therapy
using reconsolidation,

660
00:31:05,463 --> 00:31:07,464
that fear seems to have
been erased.

661
00:31:07,565 --> 00:31:08,999
Yeah.

662
00:31:09,100 --> 00:31:12,135
(laughing): I'm petting
a poisonous spider indeed.

663
00:31:12,237 --> 00:31:15,939
NARRATOR: The scientist who
cured Sasha is Merel Kindt

664
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,376
from the University
of Amsterdam.

665
00:31:19,477 --> 00:31:21,311
When she heard about
Karim Nader's work,

666
00:31:21,412 --> 00:31:23,647
she immediately saw
the potential.

667
00:31:23,748 --> 00:31:25,949
MEREL KINDT:
So I was really thrilled.

668
00:31:26,050 --> 00:31:28,986
I realized if this is going
to work for humans,

669
00:31:29,087 --> 00:31:32,256
this is, yeah,
very important news.

670
00:31:32,357 --> 00:31:36,627
So can you tell me a bit more
about your fear of spiders?

671
00:31:36,728 --> 00:31:39,168
NARRATOR: Using reconsolidation,
she has developed a treatment

672
00:31:39,230 --> 00:31:41,265
to erase patients'
life-long fears.

673
00:31:41,366 --> 00:31:43,200
They just scare me.

674
00:31:43,301 --> 00:31:44,468
Just fear.

675
00:31:44,569 --> 00:31:48,338
When I sleep I dream about it,
I'm just very scared.

676
00:31:48,439 --> 00:31:51,308
For the treatment we will walk
to the other side of the room,

677
00:31:51,409 --> 00:31:59,409
and there is a terrarium tank
with a tarantula in it.

678
00:31:59,918 --> 00:32:03,420
I'm going to ask you
to touch the tarantula.

679
00:32:05,523 --> 00:32:06,857
Okay?

680
00:32:06,958 --> 00:32:08,492
They're not poisonous, right?

681
00:32:08,593 --> 00:32:13,063
Yeah, well, all tarantulas
are poisonous.

682
00:32:14,232 --> 00:32:16,934
Walk to the yellow line.

683
00:32:17,035 --> 00:32:20,237
Very good, you are
doing very good.

684
00:32:20,338 --> 00:32:23,840
NARRATOR: Just like with Nader's rats,
the first step is to get Jeroen

685
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:26,777
to draw up the memory
of his fear.

686
00:32:31,149 --> 00:32:34,284
(breathing heavily)

687
00:32:34,385 --> 00:32:37,387
KINDT:
You're doing very good.

688
00:32:37,488 --> 00:32:41,892
We ask our participants
to approach the tarantula,

689
00:32:41,993 --> 00:32:45,329
which triggers
the original fear memory.

690
00:32:45,430 --> 00:32:48,298
How much distress
do you feel right now?

691
00:32:48,399 --> 00:32:50,300
Dry mouth.

692
00:32:50,401 --> 00:32:52,502
I feel shaking.

693
00:32:52,603 --> 00:32:54,438
You are doing very, very well.

694
00:32:55,807 --> 00:32:58,408
Try to look here.

695
00:32:58,509 --> 00:33:00,344
Don't avoid it.

696
00:33:00,445 --> 00:33:02,879
Stay here, it's important
that you see it.

697
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:04,181
Yeah?

698
00:33:04,282 --> 00:33:05,816
Just put your hand here.

699
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,955
And then stop, yeah?

700
00:33:12,056 --> 00:33:15,726
What do you think
that will happen?

701
00:33:15,827 --> 00:33:17,427
KINDT:
Approaching the spider

702
00:33:17,528 --> 00:33:20,630
makes the fear memory unstable.

703
00:33:20,732 --> 00:33:21,832
Yeah.

704
00:33:21,933 --> 00:33:25,535
Okay, very good, we go
to the other side of the room.

705
00:33:26,838 --> 00:33:28,905
KINDT:
Such that if we give propranolol

706
00:33:29,007 --> 00:33:32,776
after the exposure
to the tarantula,

707
00:33:32,877 --> 00:33:36,813
the drug can interfere
with the restabilization

708
00:33:36,914 --> 00:33:40,951
of the original fear memory.

709
00:33:41,052 --> 00:33:43,754
NARRATOR: Propranolol is a
blood-pressure medication

710
00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:46,857
that blocks the release of
noradrenaline in the amygdala,

711
00:33:46,958 --> 00:33:49,493
the fear center of the brain.

712
00:33:49,594 --> 00:33:52,796
Since noradrenaline is part
of the brain's anxiety signal

713
00:33:52,897 --> 00:33:56,199
during a fearful event,
blocking it after recall

714
00:33:56,300 --> 00:33:58,735
seems to disrupt
the reconsolidation

715
00:33:58,836 --> 00:34:01,738
of the fear part of the memory.

716
00:34:01,839 --> 00:34:05,242
What is very important is that
it is not a forget pill.

717
00:34:05,343 --> 00:34:08,345
If we do not trigger
the memory reactivation,

718
00:34:08,446 --> 00:34:10,981
the drug will not work.

719
00:34:13,851 --> 00:34:17,788
NARRATOR:
The next day Jeroen returns.

720
00:34:17,889 --> 00:34:19,990
What we are going
to do is again,

721
00:34:20,091 --> 00:34:21,858
walking to the other
side of the room

722
00:34:21,959 --> 00:34:25,162
and I'm going to ask you
again to touch the spider.

723
00:34:30,301 --> 00:34:32,035
You can touch it
here at the backside.

724
00:34:32,136 --> 00:34:34,838
(chuckles)

725
00:34:45,183 --> 00:34:46,216
Very good.

726
00:34:46,317 --> 00:34:47,851
Did you touch it,
did you feel it?

727
00:34:47,952 --> 00:34:48,952
Yeah, yeah.

728
00:34:48,986 --> 00:34:50,887
Okay, try it again.

729
00:34:50,988 --> 00:34:52,956
It felt like rubber.

730
00:34:53,057 --> 00:34:54,891
Yeah, try it again.

731
00:34:58,229 --> 00:34:59,463
Oh, man.

732
00:34:59,564 --> 00:35:01,031
Okay.

733
00:35:01,132 --> 00:35:04,101
NARRATOR: It takes a few tries,
but after just minutes...

734
00:35:04,202 --> 00:35:06,036
Do it again.

735
00:35:13,511 --> 00:35:16,813
Very good, yes, yes.

736
00:35:17,915 --> 00:35:19,116
Yes.

737
00:35:19,217 --> 00:35:22,119
How does it feel
to touch a tarantula?

738
00:35:22,220 --> 00:35:23,920
Like touching a hamster.

739
00:35:24,021 --> 00:35:25,021
Yeah.

740
00:35:26,424 --> 00:35:28,325
Maybe he likes it.

741
00:35:31,529 --> 00:35:35,232
NARRATOR: So far Kindt's repeated
this work in over 30 people

742
00:35:35,333 --> 00:35:40,937
with spider phobia and other
anxiety disorders, and...

743
00:35:41,038 --> 00:35:42,672
The effects were so overwhelming

744
00:35:42,773 --> 00:35:47,077
that I did not believe them
initially.

745
00:35:47,178 --> 00:35:49,312
NARRATOR:
But in fact, the therapy worked

746
00:35:49,413 --> 00:35:53,783
in every spider phobe
she tested, even a year later.

747
00:35:53,885 --> 00:35:55,585
It was unbelievable,
and I was standing there,

748
00:35:55,686 --> 00:35:57,354
like, how can this be possible?

749
00:35:57,455 --> 00:35:58,655
(chuckles)

750
00:35:58,756 --> 00:36:00,290
It's my new friend.

751
00:36:00,391 --> 00:36:02,225
It's really confusing.

752
00:36:04,128 --> 00:36:05,328
It's like a contradiction...

753
00:36:05,429 --> 00:36:06,596
Yeah, yeah, contradiction.

754
00:36:06,697 --> 00:36:08,857
with how I used to feel
and how I feel now.

755
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:13,870
It's so strange,
like I am someone else now.

756
00:36:13,971 --> 00:36:18,375
We of course cannot prove
that we delete or even erase

757
00:36:18,476 --> 00:36:22,479
the original fear memory,
because we can only observe

758
00:36:22,580 --> 00:36:27,684
the new behavior, but given that
the fear does not come back,

759
00:36:27,785 --> 00:36:31,288
we hypothesize that
the previously formed memory

760
00:36:31,389 --> 00:36:35,258
are in fact deleted.

761
00:36:35,359 --> 00:36:39,362
NARRATOR: Treating people with spider
phobia is only the first step.

762
00:36:39,463 --> 00:36:43,433
Kindt is now among a handful of
scientists using reconsolidation

763
00:36:43,534 --> 00:36:48,238
to treat a variety of disorders
from drug addiction to PTSD,

764
00:36:48,339 --> 00:36:50,674
and though the research
is in its infancy,

765
00:36:50,775 --> 00:36:53,310
early results have been
promising.

766
00:36:53,411 --> 00:36:57,914
I am very hopeful that the
reconsolidation intervention

767
00:36:58,015 --> 00:37:00,850
will be further developed

768
00:37:00,952 --> 00:37:03,420
for people with post-traumatic
stress disorder.

769
00:37:03,521 --> 00:37:08,491
NARRATOR: But reconsolidation is
more than just a therapeutic tool.

770
00:37:08,593 --> 00:37:12,929
If the act of recalling a memory
makes it vulnerable to change,

771
00:37:13,030 --> 00:37:18,101
this may also explain something
we've known all along...

772
00:37:18,202 --> 00:37:22,572
That our memory is often
an unreliable narrator.

773
00:37:22,673 --> 00:37:27,143
I could swear by anyone, pass
every lie detector test that...

774
00:37:27,245 --> 00:37:29,746
I had met Mother Teresa,
but I hadn't.

775
00:37:29,847 --> 00:37:32,515
Something that I wanted to
happen, but it never did happen.

776
00:37:32,617 --> 00:37:37,487
I believe that my earliest
memory was a very happy memory

777
00:37:37,588 --> 00:37:40,123
of going to a movie called
<i>The Greatest Show on Earth.</i>

778
00:37:40,224 --> 00:37:44,027
♪ ♪

779
00:37:44,128 --> 00:37:48,164
And it wasn't until much later
I found out that the movie

780
00:37:48,266 --> 00:37:50,333
was released when I was
eight years old.

781
00:37:50,434 --> 00:37:54,137
So it couldn't have been
my earliest memory.

782
00:37:54,238 --> 00:37:57,674
NARRATOR: This comes as no
surprise to Elizabeth Loftus.

783
00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:00,143
She's spent the last 40 years

784
00:38:00,244 --> 00:38:03,546
exploring exactly how unreliable
our memory is.

785
00:38:03,648 --> 00:38:06,449
I think people ought to pay
more attention to the fact

786
00:38:06,550 --> 00:38:08,885
that there are memory errors
all around them.

787
00:38:08,986 --> 00:38:12,589
NARRATOR: Her work has inspired
a generation of researchers,

788
00:38:12,690 --> 00:38:15,458
including psychologist
Julia Shaw.

789
00:38:15,559 --> 00:38:18,261
The question isn't,
do we have false memories?

790
00:38:18,362 --> 00:38:19,763
It's, how false
are our memories?

791
00:38:19,864 --> 00:38:21,765
There are so many things

792
00:38:21,866 --> 00:38:24,267
that can and do go wrong
along the way.

793
00:38:24,368 --> 00:38:27,370
NARRATOR: To find out how wrong,
Shaw has designed perhaps

794
00:38:27,471 --> 00:38:31,808
the most comprehensive study
ever on false memory.

795
00:38:31,909 --> 00:38:34,069
She starts by recruiting
over a hundred people

796
00:38:34,111 --> 00:38:37,380
for what they think is a study
about their childhood memories.

797
00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:39,849
So this is my first meeting
with the participant.

798
00:38:39,950 --> 00:38:41,551
The first event which
we'll be talking about

799
00:38:41,652 --> 00:38:44,354
was a time when you were 12
and you moved from Trinidad

800
00:38:44,455 --> 00:38:45,422
to Kelowna with your family.

801
00:38:45,523 --> 00:38:47,223
I hated the move.

802
00:38:47,325 --> 00:38:49,959
NARRATOR: Actually the study is to
see if it's possible to implant

803
00:38:50,061 --> 00:38:54,164
a false memory
about committing a crime.

804
00:38:54,265 --> 00:38:56,546
I had colleagues saying,
"This isn't going to work.

805
00:38:56,634 --> 00:38:58,401
"There's no way you will get
individuals to think

806
00:38:58,502 --> 00:39:00,236
that they committed a crime
that never happened."

807
00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:03,673
NARRATOR: She begins with a true
event gathered from their parents...

808
00:39:03,774 --> 00:39:06,343
in this case a family move.

809
00:39:06,444 --> 00:39:09,045
We moved around like
every year kinda thing.

810
00:39:09,146 --> 00:39:11,614
NARRATOR: But this was just
a trick to gain trust.

811
00:39:11,716 --> 00:39:14,517
The next step is to introduce
the false memory:

812
00:39:14,618 --> 00:39:17,554
a fight so severe
that the police were called.

813
00:39:17,655 --> 00:39:20,590
So the other event which
your parents report happening

814
00:39:20,691 --> 00:39:23,393
was when you were 14 years old
you initiated a physical fight

815
00:39:23,494 --> 00:39:25,095
and the police
called your parents.

816
00:39:25,196 --> 00:39:27,597
They said it happened
in Kelowna, in the fall

817
00:39:27,698 --> 00:39:31,134
and you were with Ryan
when it happened.

818
00:39:31,235 --> 00:39:33,803
Only two of the details
are real:

819
00:39:33,904 --> 00:39:37,874
the name of the best friend and
the place she lived at the time.

820
00:39:37,975 --> 00:39:40,310
The rest is made up.

821
00:39:40,411 --> 00:39:42,345
Honestly, I don't remember.

822
00:39:42,446 --> 00:39:45,215
Like I don't know what
you're talking about.

823
00:39:45,316 --> 00:39:47,417
I don't.. I feel like...
I don't think

824
00:39:47,518 --> 00:39:50,520
I've ever been in a fight.

825
00:39:50,621 --> 00:39:53,189
I'm so confused.

826
00:39:53,290 --> 00:39:56,159
NARRATOR: Shaw then turns to a
series of cognitive techniques

827
00:39:56,260 --> 00:39:58,461
known to induce false memories,

828
00:39:58,562 --> 00:40:01,197
starting with
an imagination exercise.

829
00:40:01,298 --> 00:40:03,266
I'd like you to relax,
close your eyes

830
00:40:03,367 --> 00:40:05,335
and focus your attention on
trying to retrieve this memory.

831
00:40:05,436 --> 00:40:06,803
Okay.

832
00:40:06,904 --> 00:40:08,238
NARRATOR: Bolstered with a
little social pressure...

833
00:40:08,339 --> 00:40:09,539
This might seem a bit strange,

834
00:40:09,573 --> 00:40:10,907
but it does work
for most people.

835
00:40:11,008 --> 00:40:12,375
Okay.

836
00:40:12,476 --> 00:40:13,676
Subtly introducing this notion

837
00:40:13,711 --> 00:40:17,080
that "it works for most people
if they try hard enough,"

838
00:40:17,181 --> 00:40:19,582
which is a subtle form
of social manipulation.

839
00:40:19,683 --> 00:40:22,819
NARRATOR: And ask the participant
to visualize certain details

840
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:24,988
of the stories.

841
00:40:25,089 --> 00:40:26,956
Introducing things that are easy
to picture first.

842
00:40:27,057 --> 00:40:29,292
Picture yourself
at the age of 14.

843
00:40:29,393 --> 00:40:31,060
"Picture yourself
at the age of 14."

844
00:40:31,162 --> 00:40:32,495
That's an easy thing to picture.

845
00:40:32,596 --> 00:40:34,030
In Kelowna.

846
00:40:34,131 --> 00:40:37,434
In Kelowna, the place that
she lived at the age.

847
00:40:37,535 --> 00:40:38,868
Also easy to picture.

848
00:40:38,969 --> 00:40:40,203
And it's fall.

849
00:40:40,304 --> 00:40:42,172
It's fall,
everybody can picture fall.

850
00:40:42,273 --> 00:40:44,007
And you were with Ryan
when it happened.

851
00:40:47,845 --> 00:40:49,946
When people imagine events
that might have occurred

852
00:40:50,047 --> 00:40:53,483
in their past, we know
that that's a potent way

853
00:40:53,584 --> 00:40:55,185
of creating a false memory.

854
00:40:55,286 --> 00:40:58,121
NARRATOR: After giving the
memory a week to set,

855
00:40:58,222 --> 00:41:00,256
she brings the participant back.

856
00:41:00,357 --> 00:41:03,626
Okay, so, welcome back.

857
00:41:03,727 --> 00:41:05,967
And so by the time we get
to interview number two,

858
00:41:05,996 --> 00:41:07,236
we're seeing a different story.

859
00:41:08,032 --> 00:41:11,901
I remember, like,
a verbal fight and maybe I...

860
00:41:16,373 --> 00:41:19,542
It seems so unlike...
but maybe I pushed or something?

861
00:41:19,643 --> 00:41:21,044
Good, okay.

862
00:41:21,145 --> 00:41:25,882
So this is where she's first
fully buying into this idea

863
00:41:25,983 --> 00:41:27,350
that she's actually had a fight.

864
00:41:27,451 --> 00:41:29,331
I feel like she pushed me first.

865
00:41:29,420 --> 00:41:31,187
Okay.

866
00:41:31,288 --> 00:41:34,023
SHAW: And this person
is starting to picture

867
00:41:34,124 --> 00:41:35,391
how it could have happened.

868
00:41:35,493 --> 00:41:36,793
And "what could have been"

869
00:41:36,894 --> 00:41:38,228
turns into
"what would have been"

870
00:41:38,329 --> 00:41:39,629
turns into "what was."

871
00:41:39,730 --> 00:41:43,333
NARRATOR: So by the third interview,
the memory has taken hold.

872
00:41:43,434 --> 00:41:46,970
I think the cops showed up,
and we were kind of having

873
00:41:47,071 --> 00:41:50,607
a... maybe like a verbal
kind of fight

874
00:41:50,708 --> 00:41:53,243
and then it kind of maybe got
into a push.

875
00:41:56,313 --> 00:41:58,548
NARRATOR:
And it wasn't just this once.

876
00:41:58,649 --> 00:42:00,116
Shaw was able to convince

877
00:42:00,217 --> 00:42:04,254
over 70% of participants
that they committed a crime.

878
00:42:04,355 --> 00:42:05,855
I think I just lost it.

879
00:42:05,956 --> 00:42:07,690
Couldn't take it anymore.

880
00:42:07,791 --> 00:42:11,294
I was incredibly surprised
at the rate that I had

881
00:42:11,395 --> 00:42:14,097
in terms of successfully
implanting these false memories.

882
00:42:14,198 --> 00:42:15,798
You physically feel
things about it?

883
00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:17,967
(quietly): Yes.

884
00:42:18,068 --> 00:42:22,138
And yet there we were,
and they just kept coming

885
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:23,973
and coming and coming.

886
00:42:24,074 --> 00:42:28,211
NARRATOR: So much so, Shaw's
team cut the study short.

887
00:42:28,312 --> 00:42:31,214
So this is a false memory study.

888
00:42:31,315 --> 00:42:33,616
(laughing):
I'm so embarrassed.

889
00:42:33,717 --> 00:42:37,820
NARRATOR: And the ramifications go
way beyond fooling college students.

890
00:42:37,922 --> 00:42:39,556
False memory studies like this

891
00:42:39,657 --> 00:42:41,190
question one of the cornerstones

892
00:42:41,292 --> 00:42:43,393
of the criminal justice system.

893
00:42:43,494 --> 00:42:49,399
LOFTUS: In those hundreds of cases
where DNA testing has proven

894
00:42:49,500 --> 00:42:53,503
that these individuals
were wrongly convicted,

895
00:42:53,604 --> 00:42:57,240
about three-quarters of the time
the convictions were based

896
00:42:57,341 --> 00:42:59,475
on faulty eye witness testimony.

897
00:43:00,945 --> 00:43:04,514
NARRATOR: So if our memories are
more malleable than we think,

898
00:43:04,615 --> 00:43:09,352
and we can change them, even
erase some of them, what's next?

899
00:43:11,722 --> 00:43:14,724
Will there ever be a day when
at just the push of a button,

900
00:43:14,825 --> 00:43:18,528
we can implant or edit
specific memories at will?

901
00:43:18,629 --> 00:43:19,729
Is this your first trip?

902
00:43:19,830 --> 00:43:21,331
NARRATOR:
Like in the movies?

903
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:24,880
The seed that we plant
in this man's mind

904
00:43:24,969 --> 00:43:26,169
will grow into an idea.

905
00:43:26,270 --> 00:43:28,071
This idea will define him.

906
00:43:28,172 --> 00:43:30,073
It may come to change...

907
00:43:30,174 --> 00:43:32,374
well, it may come to change
everything about him.

908
00:43:32,409 --> 00:43:35,745
Movies like<i> Inception,</i>
<i>Total Recall, Eternal Sunshine,</i>

909
00:43:35,846 --> 00:43:38,181
of course they're possible.

910
00:43:38,282 --> 00:43:42,952
If mice had Hollywood, then it's
possible in practice right now.

911
00:43:44,555 --> 00:43:47,023
NARRATOR: In fact, here
at Columbia University,

912
00:43:47,124 --> 00:43:50,360
Christine Denny is one of
a handful of neuroscientists

913
00:43:50,461 --> 00:43:52,962
who can do just that.

914
00:43:53,063 --> 00:43:55,398
CHRISTINE DENNY: It does
seem like science fiction.

915
00:43:55,499 --> 00:43:57,700
But we are really doing
<i>Inceptio</i> in our lab

916
00:43:57,801 --> 00:43:59,681
with turning on and off
memories.

917
00:44:01,038 --> 00:44:04,641
NARRATOR: It's called optogenetics,
a technique so revolutionary

918
00:44:04,742 --> 00:44:07,310
it allows us not only
to map a specific memory,

919
00:44:07,411 --> 00:44:11,447
but manipulate it with lasers.

920
00:44:11,548 --> 00:44:13,616
At least in these little guys.

921
00:44:13,717 --> 00:44:17,487
These mice might not
look so special.

922
00:44:17,588 --> 00:44:21,758
You could not tell my mice apart
from a mouse on the street

923
00:44:21,859 --> 00:44:24,427
or wherever you would go
to a pet store and buy a mouse.

924
00:44:24,528 --> 00:44:25,962
They don't look any different.

925
00:44:26,063 --> 00:44:27,897
NARRATOR:
But they are.

926
00:44:27,998 --> 00:44:30,566
These are genetically
modified mice

927
00:44:30,668 --> 00:44:32,969
that allow Denny to record
specific memories

928
00:44:33,070 --> 00:44:35,505
and turn them on and off
at will.

929
00:44:35,606 --> 00:44:37,874
To demonstrate,
she starts by putting a mouse

930
00:44:37,975 --> 00:44:39,342
in a new environment.

931
00:44:39,443 --> 00:44:43,846
DENNY: You can see that the
mouse is just sitting here

932
00:44:43,947 --> 00:44:45,281
in the corner, freezing.

933
00:44:47,751 --> 00:44:49,419
Basically scared
of the environment.

934
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:51,020
NARRATOR:
That's because it's bright.

935
00:44:51,121 --> 00:44:53,222
There's no place to hide.

936
00:44:53,323 --> 00:44:55,858
But the goal isn't
to frighten mice.

937
00:44:55,959 --> 00:44:58,194
She wants to see
if she can override this fear

938
00:44:58,295 --> 00:45:02,598
by playing back a happy memory
she recorded yesterday.

939
00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:05,735
What we did is labeled
a positive memory

940
00:45:05,836 --> 00:45:07,804
in the brains of these mice.

941
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:13,040
NARRATOR: Yesterday this same mouse
got to explore the kind of place

942
00:45:13,110 --> 00:45:16,579
it naturally likes: dimly lit,
full of soft bedding,

943
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,248
with a nice place to hide.

944
00:45:19,349 --> 00:45:22,151
And while he was
scurrying around, Denny recorded

945
00:45:22,252 --> 00:45:25,288
the exact neurons that fired
when he made a memory

946
00:45:25,389 --> 00:45:27,223
of that pleasant place.

947
00:45:27,324 --> 00:45:29,992
DENNY: The cells that are
labeled here in green,

948
00:45:30,094 --> 00:45:33,863
when I turn on the laser, those
cells will turn on the memory.

949
00:45:33,964 --> 00:45:35,564
NARRATOR:
But how?

950
00:45:35,632 --> 00:45:39,268
How do you record
a specific memory?

951
00:45:39,369 --> 00:45:42,405
And how do you get brain cells
to respond to light?

952
00:45:42,506 --> 00:45:46,576
Here's where the sci-fi wizardry
comes in.

953
00:45:46,677 --> 00:45:51,781
We genetically engineered mice
so that we can permanently label

954
00:45:51,882 --> 00:45:53,616
an individual memory.

955
00:45:53,717 --> 00:45:57,153
NARRATOR: The key is this
mouse's special genome.

956
00:45:57,254 --> 00:46:00,757
It's bred to carry a piece
of DNA from algae

957
00:46:00,858 --> 00:46:04,660
that has the code for
a light-sensitive protein.

958
00:46:04,762 --> 00:46:09,565
In nature, that protein allows
the algae to respond to light.

959
00:46:09,666 --> 00:46:12,535
In Denny's mice,
it just sits there quietly

960
00:46:12,636 --> 00:46:17,140
in the mouse's genome,
not doing anything until...

961
00:46:17,241 --> 00:46:20,143
When you inject a drug
right before you expose them

962
00:46:20,244 --> 00:46:22,078
to this positive experience.

963
00:46:22,179 --> 00:46:25,515
NARRATOR: The drug switches that
gene on, telling any brain cells

964
00:46:25,616 --> 00:46:27,283
that fire within the hour

965
00:46:27,384 --> 00:46:31,420
to install this light-sensitive
protein on their surfaces.

966
00:46:31,522 --> 00:46:34,624
As the mouse is exploring
a pleasant environment,

967
00:46:34,725 --> 00:46:37,994
any neurons that fire will leave
a footprint of the memory

968
00:46:38,095 --> 00:46:40,096
in the mouse's brain.

969
00:46:40,197 --> 00:46:42,298
After the drug wears off,

970
00:46:42,399 --> 00:46:45,902
only those cells
will respond to light.

971
00:46:46,003 --> 00:46:47,003
Meaning:

972
00:46:47,070 --> 00:46:49,005
It's basically like a switch.

973
00:46:49,106 --> 00:46:53,342
So what you can then do is use
a laser to control these cells.

974
00:46:53,443 --> 00:46:56,445
NARRATOR: These tiny fiber
optics can shine light

975
00:46:56,547 --> 00:46:59,348
directly into the mouse's brain.

976
00:46:59,449 --> 00:47:03,019
And what we're going to try to
do now is to turn on these cells

977
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:05,054
that we've labeled
with a positive memory.

978
00:47:05,155 --> 00:47:08,858
NARRATOR: Right now the mouse is
scared, but if Denny is right,

979
00:47:08,959 --> 00:47:12,628
the laser should activate the
exact same neurons that fired

980
00:47:12,729 --> 00:47:15,331
when the mouse was making
a happy memory,

981
00:47:15,432 --> 00:47:19,368
effectively causing it to relive
that positive experience.

982
00:47:19,469 --> 00:47:21,504
Okay, so watch now what happens

983
00:47:21,605 --> 00:47:23,605
when I'm going to turn
this laser on.

984
00:47:35,886 --> 00:47:37,766
You can see that
the animal's actually smelling,

985
00:47:37,821 --> 00:47:42,325
grooming himself, which is
a sign that he feels safe.

986
00:47:42,426 --> 00:47:43,993
NARRATOR:
But turn the laser off...

987
00:47:44,094 --> 00:47:47,214
DENNY: And you can see that the
animal is resuming its behavior

988
00:47:47,297 --> 00:47:48,731
of freezing in the corner.

989
00:47:48,832 --> 00:47:51,834
NARRATOR: Denny can now
trigger this memory at will.

990
00:47:51,935 --> 00:47:54,036
On.

991
00:47:54,137 --> 00:47:55,137
Off.

992
00:47:58,408 --> 00:48:01,077
I think the first time we did
it, we didn't believe it.

993
00:48:01,178 --> 00:48:05,581
But when you see inside
of the brains of these mice

994
00:48:05,682 --> 00:48:09,585
and then to think that you're
only manipulating those cells

995
00:48:09,686 --> 00:48:12,688
and changing the behavioral
output of the animal,

996
00:48:12,789 --> 00:48:14,757
that's... yeah, science fiction.

997
00:48:14,858 --> 00:48:16,559
SCHACTER:
This is potentially

998
00:48:16,660 --> 00:48:18,427
one of the most important
new developments

999
00:48:18,528 --> 00:48:21,864
in memory research because
it suggests a level

1000
00:48:21,965 --> 00:48:25,368
and precision of control
over memory that we've really

1001
00:48:25,469 --> 00:48:26,869
never seen before.

1002
00:48:26,970 --> 00:48:29,472
NARRATOR: A degree of precision
many scientists think

1003
00:48:29,573 --> 00:48:32,909
we might have
over our memories some day.

1004
00:48:33,010 --> 00:48:34,543
RAMIREZ:
I think that it's a matter

1005
00:48:34,645 --> 00:48:35,645
of when this happens,

1006
00:48:35,679 --> 00:48:38,481
not a matter of
if it'll happen in people.

1007
00:48:38,582 --> 00:48:40,116
NARRATOR:
Which raises the question,

1008
00:48:40,217 --> 00:48:44,220
if by a flick of a switch we
could edit that first kiss

1009
00:48:44,321 --> 00:48:48,958
or erase that argument
with a spouse,

1010
00:48:49,059 --> 00:48:50,559
would we want to?

1011
00:48:50,661 --> 00:48:54,196
What scientists now
are starting to realize is

1012
00:48:54,298 --> 00:48:57,767
that we can modify memories
in some remarkable ways.

1013
00:48:57,868 --> 00:49:00,603
How do we think about that?

1014
00:49:00,704 --> 00:49:04,240
By starting to manipulate
those memories,

1015
00:49:04,341 --> 00:49:06,909
are we suggesting that
evolution got it wrong?

1016
00:49:09,146 --> 00:49:10,746
NARRATOR:
Could it be possible

1017
00:49:10,847 --> 00:49:14,917
that our memories are built
the way they are for a reason?

1018
00:49:15,018 --> 00:49:20,222
Why would we be constructed
with a memory system

1019
00:49:20,324 --> 00:49:24,360
that is so potentially open
to suggestion and change?

1020
00:49:24,461 --> 00:49:27,163
NARRATOR: Perhaps Jake,
the 11-year-old boy

1021
00:49:27,264 --> 00:49:28,731
with the amazing memory,

1022
00:49:28,832 --> 00:49:30,900
can help answer that question
one day.

1023
00:49:32,369 --> 00:49:36,072
After months of scans,
scientists are still searching

1024
00:49:36,173 --> 00:49:38,474
for something to explain
his extraordinary ability.

1025
00:49:40,610 --> 00:49:42,378
But even if they don't
find anything,

1026
00:49:42,479 --> 00:49:43,846
that's an important clue.

1027
00:49:43,947 --> 00:49:47,107
DOSENBACH: Jake's already telling
us something about our memories,

1028
00:49:47,150 --> 00:49:51,520
namely that the human brain has
the capability to remember

1029
00:49:51,621 --> 00:49:54,156
your entire life
in great detail.

1030
00:49:54,257 --> 00:49:56,792
It's a fascinating question
of, why don't we?

1031
00:49:57,828 --> 00:50:00,963
NARRATOR:
Consider Jake.

1032
00:50:01,064 --> 00:50:03,299
Though he and other HSAMs love
having their special memories,

1033
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:07,770
even at his young age, he is
aware that it comes at a price.

1034
00:50:07,871 --> 00:50:08,871
JAKE:
Just like to everything,

1035
00:50:08,972 --> 00:50:11,140
there's an upside
and there's a downside.

1036
00:50:11,241 --> 00:50:13,009
The downside is you can remember
every bad thing

1037
00:50:13,110 --> 00:50:14,377
that happens to you.

1038
00:50:14,478 --> 00:50:16,912
McCAUGH:
They live in different worlds

1039
00:50:17,014 --> 00:50:19,915
than the worlds
that you and I live in.

1040
00:50:20,017 --> 00:50:22,457
And you have to wonder, would
you like to live in that world?

1041
00:50:23,787 --> 00:50:27,690
NARRATOR:
A world where you can't forget.

1042
00:50:27,791 --> 00:50:30,459
Forgetting is probably
one of the most important things

1043
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:32,194
that brains will do.

1044
00:50:32,295 --> 00:50:35,931
Perhaps evolution was smart
enough to design a system

1045
00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:38,734
that stores only stuff
that's important.

1046
00:50:40,604 --> 00:50:44,106
NARRATOR: Could it be that what
we think of as memory's flaws

1047
00:50:44,207 --> 00:50:46,976
are actually part
of its strength?

1048
00:50:47,077 --> 00:50:51,480
MARTIN: Maybe we have a misconception
of what the purpose of memory is.

1049
00:50:51,581 --> 00:50:54,250
That we think of it more
as an accurate recording

1050
00:50:54,351 --> 00:50:59,622
of past experiences
as opposed to a creative process

1051
00:50:59,723 --> 00:51:03,125
of combining our experiences
over time.

1052
00:51:03,226 --> 00:51:06,796
WALKER: Perhaps the ultimate
goal of memory is not to retain

1053
00:51:06,897 --> 00:51:10,733
every single fact
that you've learned.

1054
00:51:10,834 --> 00:51:14,403
If you had just this picture-
perfect back catalogue

1055
00:51:14,504 --> 00:51:18,474
of 30, 40, 50, 60 years
of experience,

1056
00:51:18,575 --> 00:51:20,976
imagine how hard it would be
to pick out

1057
00:51:21,078 --> 00:51:23,712
the individual specific
experiences that you need

1058
00:51:23,814 --> 00:51:25,414
at any one moment

1059
00:51:25,515 --> 00:51:28,651
against the backdrop
of that sea of noise.

1060
00:51:31,822 --> 00:51:35,724
NARRATOR: Somehow this complex
choreography of single cells

1061
00:51:35,826 --> 00:51:37,993
adds up to our memory,

1062
00:51:38,095 --> 00:51:42,298
a mysterious system that allows
us to time-travel to the past

1063
00:51:42,399 --> 00:51:44,200
and imagine our future.

1064
00:51:44,301 --> 00:51:46,836
But perhaps memory's
ultimate gift

1065
00:51:46,937 --> 00:51:49,572
is a way to navigate
that sea of noise

1066
00:51:49,673 --> 00:51:51,707
so we can pick out
the experiences

1067
00:51:51,808 --> 00:51:57,079
that each of us weave together
to tell the story of our lives.

1068
00:52:06,790 --> 00:52:08,710
The investigation
continues online,

1069
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:26,208
<i>This</i> NOVA<i> program</i>
<i>is available on DVD.</i>

1070
00:52:26,309 --> 00:52:31,747
<i>To order, visit shopPBS.org,
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.</i>

1071
00:52:31,848 --> 00:52:34,450
NOVA<i> is also available</i>
<i>for download on iTunes.</i>