Memory Implants

Memories could soon be implanted into the brain, scientists have claimed.

16:12 03 March 2016

Professor Tim Bliss, a British scientist who helped uncover the foundation of memory in the 1970s, believes that fond memories of spending the night with Marilyn Monroe could be implanted in the brain.

 

In 1973, Prof Bliss and his Norwegian colleague laid down the first detailed description of a brain process called long-term potentiation (LTP), which is now know to underpin learning and memory.

 

He said: "I think that memory is one of the essential faculties of mind which we will eventually understand almost completely.

 

"I wouldn't say that about other faculties of mind such as consciousness. For memory, I think we've got a pretty good handle on what happens."

 

"If that is the case then the question does become possible. Could we instill memories which we didn't actually have? When we talk about this we sometimes call it the Marilyn Monroe experiment."

 

"I could have met her. Maybe I did. Maybe I could go along to the synapse surgeon and say 'Please instill in me a memory of the night I spent with Marilyn' and he would say, 'sure, give me your cheque book'.

 

"In theory that's possible. In practice, of course, we can't do it now, but I'm not saying that could never happen. Its one of those things which society will have to decide."