To test the effectiveness of the drug, researchers created bad memories by giving mice electric shocks while a loud noise was played.Over time, the creatures learned to associate the sound with the shock, and hearing the noise alone was enough to make them freeze.But when they were given a drug called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, they lost their fear, the journal Science reports.The effect of the drug was similar to a psychological technique called extinction training, in which phobia sufferers are repeatedly exposed to their nemesis in a bid to desensitise them to it.The U.S. government-funded researchers believe that, as in extinction training, the drug did not erase the bad memory completely, but created a sense of safety and positivity that made it easier to cope with.
That research sounds pretty cool, hopefully this will help people with phobias in the future. Tough i wonder if you could pay to erase specific memories in the future would you do it? I dunno.-gexecuter (June 05, 2010, 12:05 PM)
That research sounds pretty cool, hopefully this will help people with phobias in the future. Tough i wonder if you could pay to erase specific memories in the future would you do it? I dunno.-gexecuter (June 05, 2010, 12:05 PM)Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind -f0dder (June 05, 2010, 01:56 PM)
One of the few Carey films that doesn't have the audience cringing behind the sofa. +1 -Carol Haynes (June 07, 2010, 07:04 AM)
