The frailty of memory might have an upside: When a memory is recalled, two research teams reported Wednesday, it can be erased or rewired so that a painful recollection is physically linked in the brain to joy.
While lab rodents were used in the research, it adds to growing evidence that the malleability of memory might be exploited to treat problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
In both studies, scientists focused on a phenomenon called re-consolidation. Discovered in the 1990s, it refers to the fact that when a memory is retrieved, its physical source in the brain is so "labile," or changeable, that it can be altered. False memories can form, and the associated emotions can flip.