Friday, July 26, 2013

Neuroscientists plant false memories in the brain

MIT study also pinpoints where the brain stores memory traces, both false and authentic.
The phenomenon of false memory has been well-documented: In many court cases, defendants have been found guilty based on testimony from witnesses and victims who were sure of their recollections, but DNA evidence later overturned the conviction.
In a step toward understanding how these faulty memories arise, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can plant false memories in the brains of mice.
Swearing under oath, at some point, could be as easy as pie.

58 comments:

rhhardin said...

Thanks for the memories.

rhhardin said...

Kroger reshelves stuff from time to time. If they could implant the new locations, it would save you a walk.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Google Pinky and the Brain.

rhhardin said...

Language is taken either as mind reading or prophecy.

There's something to be checked in mice.

rhhardin said...

Althouse wonders if she is crazy.

Not unusually.

rhhardin said...

Slamming of doors and crying is familiar to guys.

Freeman Hunt said...

I've known plenty of tantruming men.

rhhardin said...

When bad luck closes a window, it also slams a door.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

If you’re going to get a memory implant, you might as well make it a good one.

Extra boner points: LINK.

edutcher said...

Total Recall is next.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Or in Huma Abedin's case, she can get a six figure paycheck from the government and a $335K salary from a company that Bill Clinton sits as a board member?

With that, she can forget some other things going on...

bagoh20 said...

Next month's headline:

"Scientists find DNA morphs to new arrangements in evidence rooms."

bagoh20 said...

I think the total recal technology will be forthcoming pretty soon. You just create a signal that's compatible with the brain's operating system then find the USB port (I'd check the perineum area), then you can feed video right into the brain, and even better get it out. These seem relatively doable breakthroughs to me in the next 20 years.

Sydney said...

That's great. One more piece of knowledge that can be used for evil.

ndspinelli said...

Great post, Lem. We know so little about the brain. I attended a seminar @ Stanford ~5 years ago on this general topic. It was about using MRI's in lie detection. The seminar had scientists, but it was conducted by a law prof and the focus was on the ethics of using this technology on basically reading people's minds. The consensus was it's coming, whether we approve or not.

rhhardin said...

Technology today makes soap opera women dysfunctional.

Imagine what implanted memories could do.

bagoh20 said...

Effective reliable truth detection would be wonderful for a whole bunch of reasons.

It would make torture obsolete as a method.

Hook up the candidate during debates.

No more 10 guilty men going free to save one.

And best of all, less lawyers needed.

There are many more.

Of course being a kid would suck.

Anonymous said...

DIY, kids! I've implanted my own false memories. Why wait for Big Brother or REKAL Incorportated to do it for you?

Like everyone, I have my own polished Narrative that I tell myself and others. The Narrative mostly makes sense and reinforces the conclusion I've drawn about life.

I kept a journal for about 25 years. I sure got some surprises when I reread through them all six years ago. My life was more detailed and chaotic than my Narrative. Sometimes I remembered things in Narrative as being better and sometimes worse than what I wrote. Sometimes I transposed times, places and people to make things fit better. Sometimes I left out key bits of information. All this in service of the Narrative.

Apparently we do this collectively too.

The Dude said...

Some seem to remember TOP as once being a nice place.

Meade said...

"Swearing under oath, at some point, could be as easy as pie."

"There's nothing going on between us because I had no ongoing relationship with that mouse, Miss Lewinsky at the time I was questioned. It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is no mouse relationship now, that was a completely true statement"

William said...

It would be a nicer world if everyone had the memory of a happy childhood.....That's my argument with egalitarians. Income disparity is far from the most embittering inequality in life. You probably have your own list of why life is just so unfair, but most fair minded people would put a wretched childhood high up on the list.....I'd like to remember trips to Disneyland and the Lionel set Daddy bought for my tenth birthday instead the crappy memories I'm currently stuck with.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

(Tech update)

With a different browser at work, I can see the problem people were reporting, reading with a blue background.

I didn’t change that.

All I changed was the number of posts that can show at anyone time, and I turned back on a different mobile app.

Thanks.

Chennaul said...

I see AllenS on another thread--I wonder if he is still having the problem?

Although he said yesterday he could read the comments. He was having trouble reading the posts.

edutcher said...

rhhardin said...

Technology today makes soap opera women dysfunctional.

Imagine what implanted memories could do.


The last thing women need are more implants.

Paddy O said...

I think the background image is affecting things, somehow. On my tablet, I get a weird scrolling effect with it.

At least that's what I remember getting...

rhhardin said...

I browse with (firefox) tools/content/colors/

uncheck allow pages to choose their own colors

set text to white
set background to middle gray

ok/ok/ok...

The plan was to reduce the screen brightness but it turns out to be very pleasant.

For interacting with buttons in various sites you may have to go back to defaults. Some codes don't make things show up that you'd need.

Chennaul said...

It's a techy Reverse Rashomon Puzzle.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

PaddyO.

Chennaul said...

Lem--


AllenS is still having problems.


Here is his feedback --just a couple of minutes ago:


*******
AllenS said...
It's displaying the same. When I click on the thread heading, the background overwhelms the comments. When I scroll down to Troopers' 11:31 comment, your comment completely disappears in black background. Clicking on Post a Comment, is the only way that I can see comments with a white background. I guess I'm getting used to it. Besides, there's nothing that I can do.

*********

It's probably worth fixing because IIRC--the people I knew that ran Republicanish blogs--the largest percentage of their readership used--


The Internet Explorer as their browser--and that seems to be where the issue is.

AllenS is now having problems with reading the comments as well.

Others are having problems so that kind of eliminates the problem being on their end of things.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I've made a change I dont know how long it will take to take.

Chennaul said...

Also the timeline--

No problems, then a change, then problems reported.

Probably have to retrace your steps and undo whatever was changed as much as possible.

Chennaul said...

Oh ho ho...


Boom!

Let's "see" if that works.

ndspinelli said...

Change noted in Wi. I think the white background is racist.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Change noted in Wi. I think the white background is racist.

I'm tea party... lol

Anonymous said...

In Her "Self-Esteem" Post Today Althouse Makes the Comment: "Too bad I don't have comments or you could supply me with the jokes about Clinton's "organ" and the location of his self-esteem."

I Think She Is Subconsciously Crying Out for a Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot.

AllenS said...

Yes, white back ground here also. When clicking on the topic heading, the comments appear in a rather small type. Once comments open, the type is the same size as it was. Sorry, if I'm causing anyone problems, you can go back to what you had if you want. I'll adjust.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Betamax!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I was cracking myself up, remembering Wieners pie throwing proposal, in the context of this post.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nice.. good to hear its working AllenS.

Meade said...

"I Think She Is Subconsciously Crying Out for a Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot. "

It is widely known that, while Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot transmitted strong signals of carnal attractiveness, what Bill Clinton cared most about was her inferior soap opera mind -- ill-equipped for intellectual pursuits.

Anonymous said...

Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot says:

If Things Had Worked Out Slightly Differently I Could've Been a Huma, Not Just a Hummer.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That was a shoutout betamax...

wait...

Chennaul said...

AllenS

Other people were having problems also.

Anonymous said...

Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot says:

Antony Weiner Texted All Over My Blue Dress.

Anonymous said...

Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot says:

Being a Robot has Advantages over the Flesh: Metallic Spit Valve, For One.

Meade said...

Titus (to naked thin gorgeous Huma Abedin robot): *wink*... you and me, let’s go on a little ride.

Anonymous said...

Naked Monica Lewinsky Robot says:

I Have Ingested the DNA of Many Memories.

Anonymous said...

Re: "*wink*... you and me, let’s go on a little ride."

Glad to Know Someone Is Reading!

Methadras said...

rhhardin said...

Thanks for the memories.


Or the mammaries. Or were they?

Methadras said...

rhhardin said...

Thanks for the memories.


Or the mammaries. Or were they?

rhhardin said...

I just read the Raritan submission guidelines.

It's no wonder they've been publishing crap for 15 years.

Anonymous said...

I'm seeing very small san-serif comments in gray on a white background. (FF 18.01/XP SP3).

Matt Sablan said...

In the sequel to Inception, Mickey fears that Minnie is not really the love of his life.

Anonymous said...

I had minutes of fun speculating that Betamax was an Althouse sockpuppet.

Oh well. Another beautiful theory crushed by ugly reality.

There's still the matter of Fiona MacWhatsis hanging fire. Freeman says she knows but isn't saying. Meade says Fiona channels Althouse well.

Fiona's IQ steadily dropped the more she commented, so I'm disinclined to the Althouse sockpuppet theory at this point.

Basta! said...

The Raritan submission guidelines seem to be no guidelines.

Or is it that they don't print footnotes?

Freeman Hunt said...

I was wrong about knowing who Fiona was when I said that I thought I did. Now I again think I know who it is, but I do not think it's the same person I thought before. The person I think it is now is not well-intentioned.

Who needs false memories when one already has false conclusions.

Michael Haz said...

Reading on an iPad. The background whiteness appears to be toned down a bit. Chip's posts seem to have multiple font sizes. That may just be the way he does it, don't know. Can't view embedded videos, but that's because Apple decided to not play nice with Flash. Lare is showing up under a Hispanic name like El Scoldo or something.

Otherwise status is a-okay.

yashu said...

Oh hey, betamax! Cool to see you.

*I* read you.

Don't be a stranger.