科学家发现删除痛苦记忆的新方法

Scientists are developing a pill that could help you forget bad memories - and they have just tested it on 60 heart-broken people.

科学家正在研究一种能帮助人们忘掉糟糕记忆的药物，他们刚刚针对60名极度悲伤的人们进行了试验。

Dr. Alain Brunet's memory manipulation study at the McGill University in Quebec, Canada, hopes to bring about a pioneering technique for the easing of painful memories.

阿兰·布吕内博士在加拿大魁北克麦基尔大学进行的记忆操控研究，有望成为缓解痛苦记忆的开创性技术。

What had previously been a science fiction fantasy, discarding unwanted memories, may become a reality for those suffering from an 'adjustment disorder' after experiencing a traumatic event.

丢弃不想要的记忆曾经是科幻小说中的幻想，如今对那些经历创伤事件后患有“适应障碍”的人来说，这个幻想可能会成为现实。

Of the 60 people who signed up for the psychiatry study all had experienced the same emotion, the betrayal of their partner ending the romantic relationship, and all wanted to forget it.

报名参加这项精神病学研究的60名志愿者都有同样的情感经历，伴侣的背叛终结了他们的恋爱关系，所有人都想忘记这些经历。

Using a non-expensive blood pressure drug, propranolol, the volunteers were made to recall their painful memory by reading a very detailed account of the breakup that they had written, before being asked personal questions about their feelings.

通过服用廉价降压药“心得安”，研究人员让志愿者阅读他们所写的关于分手的详尽描述，来回忆痛苦的记忆，然后再询问他们的个人感受。

They were made to do this between four and six times while under the influence of propranolol with the aim of reactivating the memory to decrease its strength by blocking the synapse changes needed to solidify its existence.

研究人员让他们在服用“心得安”的同时反复阅读上述材料4到6次，以通过阻止巩固记忆所需的神经突触的变化来重新激活记忆，从而降低记忆的强度。

Dr Brunet believes propranolol can dull the emotional pain associated with the memory, and could be taken at any point after the event.

布吕内博士认为，“心得安”能够减轻与记忆相关的情感痛苦，并且可以在痛苦事件发生后的任何时间服用。

While the study has been completed, its results are yet to be released and are awaiting peer review.

这项研究已经完成，不过结果尚未公布，还需等待进行同行评议。

However Dr Brunet told The National Post that participants 'Just couldn't believe that we could do so much in such a small amount of time.

不过布吕内博士告诉加拿大《全国邮报》说，参与者“简直不敢相信我们能在这么短的时间内达到这样的效果”。

'They were able to turn the page. That's what they would tell us.''

他说：“他们能够忘掉这些痛苦。这是他们告诉我们的。”

Dr Brunet claims he is not looking to fully wipe out memories due to the ethical problems that may arise, stating:'It's not going to come from my lab'.

布吕内博士说，由于可能出现的伦理问题，他并不打算完全抹掉记忆。他说：“我的实验室不会这样做。”

He adds that 'toning down a memory' was more comfortable ground for him and his team, ethically.

他还说，从伦理上讲，他和他的团队更想做的是“淡化记忆”。

But he adds: 'If one day you had two options — I can tone down your memory, or I can remove it altogether, from your head, from your mind — what would you choose?'

但他补充道：“如果有一天你有两个选择，我可以淡化你的记忆，或者我可以完全把它从你的脑海中抹去，你会怎样选择？”

Researchers at the McGill University have based their work on the theory that a memory becomes pliable when it is recalled.

麦基尔大学研究人员的研究基于这样的理论，即记忆在被记起时更容易被影响。

For around two to five hours after recall Dr Brunet believes a memory can be modified before it is re-stored or 'reconsolidated'.

布吕内博士认为，在回忆往事大约2到5小时后，可以对记忆进行修改，然后重新存储或“重新巩固”。

Propranolol is believed to stop proteins in the brain from re-storing the memory in the way it did before, meaning some details of the memory are lost.

“心得安”被认为会阻止大脑中的蛋白质像以前那样重新存储记忆，因此记忆的一些细节会丢失。

Boston University neuroscientist Steve Ramirez claims 'memory is dynamic' and each time you 'open' a memory you effectively press 'save as' as if it is a word file, with any changes you may have made unwittingly saved until next time you recall the memory.

波士顿大学的神经学家史蒂夫·拉米雷斯称，“记忆是动态的”，每次你“打开”一段记忆时，你实际上是在按下“保存”键，就好像它是一个word文档，你可能无意中做出的任何改变都会在你再次回忆起这段记忆时得以保存。

Ethical concerns also arise over how many and which types of memories the technique could be used for - should people be allowed to forget an embarrassing drunken episode they may need to learn from?

道德上的担忧也出现了，即这项技术可以用于多少记忆以及哪些类型的记忆——是否应允许人们忘记一次他们可能需要从中汲取教训的令人尴尬的醉酒事件？