Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic fantasy film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, nonlinear narration and neosurrealism to explore the nature of memory and romantic love. It opened in North America on March 19, 2004, and grossed over US$70 million worldwide. Now erasing bad memories is about to be a reality.
Theatrical Release Poster for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Image: Wikipedia
Recalling painful memories while under the influence of the drug metyrapone reduces the brain’s ability to re-record the negative emotions associated with them, according to University of Montreal researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital. The team’s study challenges the theory that memories cannot be modified once they are stored in the brain.
“Metyrapone is a drug that significantly decreases the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is involved in memory recall,” explained lead author Marie-France Marin. Manipulating cortisol close to the time of forming new memories can decrease the negative emotions that may be associated with them. “The results show that when we decrease stress hormone levels at the time of recall of a negative event, we can impair the memory for this negative event with a long-lasting effect,” said Dr. Sonia Lupien, who directed the research.
Thirty-three men participated in the study, which involved learning a story composed of neutral and negative events. Three days later, they were divided into three groups – participants in the first group received a single dose of metyrapone, the second received double, while the third were given placebo. They were then asked to remember the story. Their memory performance was then evaluated again four days later, once the drug had cleared out.
“We found that the men in the group who received two doses of metyrapone were impaired when retrieving the negative events of the story, while they showed no impairment recalling the neutral parts of the story,” Marin explained. “We were surprised that the decreased memory of negative information was still present once cortisol levels had returned to normal.”
The research offers hope to people suffering from syndromes such as post-traumatic stress disorder. “Our findings may help people deal with traumatic events by offering them the opportunity to ‘write-over’ the emotional part of their memories during therapy,” Marin said.
One major hurdle, however, is the fact that metyrapone is no longer commercially produced. Nevertheless, the findings are very promising in terms of future clinical treatments. “Other drugs also decrease cortisol levels, and further studies with these compounds will enable us to gain a better understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in the modulation of negative memories.”
Contacts and sources:
Université de Montréal
About the researchers
Marie-France Marin
Doctoral student
Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital
Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital
University of Montreal’s Department of Physiology
Doctoral scholarship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Dr. Sonia Lupien
Director, Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital
Director, Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital
Full Professor, University of Montreal's Department of Psychiatry
Senior Investigator, CIHR Research Chair on Mental Health in Men and Women.
About the study
The University of Montreal is officially known as Université de Montréal. The study received funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Links
For more information about the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital visit www.humanstress.ca
Citation: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 May 18. [Epub ahead of print]
Metyrapone Administration Reduces the Strength of an Emotional Memory Trace in a Long-Lasting Manner.
Marin MF, Hupbach A, Maheu FS, Nader K, Lupien SJ.
Source
Centre for Studies on Human Stress (M.-F.M., S.J.L.), Mental Health Research Centre Fernand Seguin, Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, Montréal, Québec, Canada H1N 3V2; Departments of Physiology (M.-F.M.), and Psychiatry (F.S.M., S.J.L.), Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, and Department of Child Psychiatry (F.S.M.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ste-Justine, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3T 1C5; Department of Psychology (A.H.), Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015; and Department of Psychology (K.N.), McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 1B1.
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