A British scientist who helped uncover the foundation of memory in the 1970s has spoken of the future possibility of visiting a “synapse surgeon” who could implant his brain with fond memories of spending the night with Marilyn Monroe.
The scenario sounds like science fiction but something like it could actually happen in the near future, Professor Tim Bliss believes.
In 1973 Prof Bliss, working with a Norwegian colleague, laid down the first detailed description of a brain process called long-term potentiation (LTP), now known to underpin learning and memory.
He and two other British scientists working in the same field are this year’s winners of the coveted Brain Prize, regarded as the “Nobel prize for neuroscience”.
Speaking at a news briefing in London, Prof Bliss, 75, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, said it was only a matter of time before memory was fully understood and mastered.
He said: “I think that memory is one of the essential faculties of mind which we will eventually understand almost completely. I wouldnt say that about other faculties of mind such as conciousness. 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 instil memories which we didnt actually have? When we talk about this we sometimes call it the Marilyn Monroe experiment … “
He explained that he was alive during the Hollywood star and sex symbol’s heyday.
Speculating about the future benefits brain research might bring, he said: “I could have met her. Maybe I did. Maybe I could go along to the synapse surgeon and say ‘Please instil 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.”
Fellow prize winner Professor Graham Collingridge, 61, from the University of Bristol, pointed out that while many memories were good, it would be helpful to remove those that are bad.
“The classic example would be post traumatic stress disorder and another example would be chronic pain, which is a form of memory,” he said.
“There’s very good evidence now that we can start to erase memories using drugs and this may be useful eventually for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorders and potentially also chronic pain. So there are reasons why it could be beneficial to manipulate memory in the future.”
The third member of the group, Professor Richard Morris (67), from the University of Edinburgh, looked ahead at how understanding memory could help tackle Alzheimer’s.
All three scientists had carried out research involving LTP, the life-long process by which synaptic connections in the hippocampus brain region are strengthened by experiences. This has proved to be the fundamental basis of learning and memory.
Prof Morris said: “There are lots of reasons to think that the very earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, before the cells die, are processes that target this synaptic mechanism.
“One could make the prediction that the clinical syndrome of Alzheimer’s disease at the very earliest stage is memory loss, and that is precisely the case. A number of people think that Alzheimer’s disease in its very earliest stage is a synaptic disease. We like to think that this LTP mechanism is targeted at this early stage making it very difficult for people to actually make new memories.
“If we can zero in on the very earliest stages, and that’s not going to be easy to do, then it may be possible to build upon this body of work to develop new drugs that could help people at that stage … before things get very bad.”
The three scientists each receive an equal share of the one million euro (£780,300) prize money awarded by the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation in Denmark.
The award will be presented by HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at a ceremony in Copenhagen on July 1.
