"Jose J. Ortiz-Carlo" wrote:
> >From the article, I understand clearly that the job of the hippocampus
> appears to be to "encode" experiences so they can be stored as long-term
> memories elsewhere in the brain. I also understand that the research team is
> merely (allegedly) copying its' behavior. But reading about the proposed
> accuracy of performance of this prosthesis, I can't help but wonder about
> the fact that if we can break down into such detail the structure of memory
> patterns, could we apply this technology into simulating them so much that
> we can implant new ones that may or may have not existed?
There are easier ways to implant false memories.
See _The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of
Sexual Abuse_ by Dr. Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham.
The most interesting example there, IMO, is how a relative misremembered
something having to do with the death of one of Dr. Loftus's parents, and
how Dr. Loftus wove a complex memory from the misremembering.
There are all kinds of more mundane examples in the book, as well, and
examples that ended in horrifying and totally unjustifiable consequences
for innocent people.
(If anyone is in a situation where they suspect they're being accused of
something based on a "false memory", the most *useful* book I've seen to
help with that situation is _Suggestions of Abuse_ by Michael D. Yapko.
I've seen a couple of others that expose the problem without helping, and
explain the problem, but don't offer the same sort of concrete advice that
Yapko's book does.)
Julia
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