(Photo By: conchur / CC BY 2.0)

We all know that lovable game with the weird shape blocks that fall from the top of the screen and dangerously stack back to the top. It’s addicting, it’s fun, and it existed before Halo and Xbox, shocking, isn’t it? Well, new research dealing with the brain and how people make memories suggest that Tetris uses the same areas of the brain that are needed to make new memories. After a traumatic event, there is a window of 6 hours before the memory solidifies in your brain and stays there. Dr. Emily Holmes, from the Oxford Institute of Psychiatry, found in her experiments and research that if a trauma patient plays Tetris after the traumatic event during the 6 hour window a memory solidifies, Tetris disrupts the process in which the person is making painful memories. With Tetris, the person can be unable to make the painful memory; or if the person does remember, they remember it much less strongly and dramatically, which decreases the trauma of the event. Along with this research, others have occurred to understand the brain and how it functions with memories. While the experiments with Tetris, show what parts of the brain are used for making memories, little is known about the biochemical stuff that floats around in the brain which contributes to memory. Dr. Sacktor from the State University of New York, has been experimenting with proteins and a drug called Zip. Using this drug, Dr. Sacktor has been able to erase memories of electric shocks in rats, but this time the memory stays forgotten for good. With these kinds of advances in research, it will only be a matter of time when erasing memories for good using some sort of drug will appear. And while all this stuff is freakishly cool and interesting, there is one question people are asking…..

Would you erase bad memories if you could? Because after all, your memories are what help make you who you are. Without them, pieces of what makes you “You” are missing. So, what is it? Help Trauma by never remembering the event occurred, or not remembering at all what happened during that situation?

Tough decisions….

To read the full article you can go here.

Post Away, Ladies!