NRSC 2110 Blog

With the stress of finals just around the corner, I find myself desiring some sort of remedy to help me with all the studying that needs to done. I often wonder how my brain is able to remember the immense amount of material for all of my classes, and retrieve it when it comes to exam time. Moreover, I want to be able to use that mechanism for remembering and somehow enhance it. What I desire is a way for me to enhance the ability of my brain to form declarative memories that will last on a long term basis.

A study (http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/39/13066.full) published in the Journal of Neuroscience on September 29, 2010 indicated that CREB might play a key role in the regulation of long term memory formation. CREB (cAMP responsive element binding protein) is a transcription factor that binds to the CREB binding protein. It was found that absence of presenilins (genes thought to play important roles in synaptic functioning as well as memory) correlated to reduced CREB binding protein. Thus, these investigators believe that the CREB binding protein is crucial to the formation of short and long term memories.

Different experiments on mice were conducted throughout the study to test for the degree of influence that CREB binding protein may play in the formation of memories. It was previously thought that CREB binding protein was not required for the formation of short term memories. Yet, the scientists were still curious to see if a complete loss of the binding protein would affect short term memory.

Behavioral analysis using long term and short term memory formation was performed. The experimenters used spatial learning and memory tests, fear associative memory tests and object-recognition tests. In CREB binding protein mutants, impairment in the formation of long term memories was evident. Furthermore, these mutants failed short term memory tests indicating that CREB binding protein is necessary for the formation of both types of memory formation.

CREB binding protein has also been implicated in a lot of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer?s disease and Huntington?s disease. The formulation of a drug to enhance memory storage could be life changing for individuals who suffer from loss of memories as a result of neurodegenerative disease. However, this type of drug could also be useful to the everyday population of people that just want help remembering (whether for educational purposes or due to loss of memory ability resulting from aging).

A memory drug would cause extreme ethical debates. Additionally, if it were to be found unethical and illegal for someone to take these types of memory enhancing drugs, it could lead to random or mandatory drug testing for our future students. Much like drug testing is done for athletes; it could be that drug testing is done on students before exams to ensure their integrity. However, as we approach this new realm of scientific and medical advancements we must ask ourselves how far is too far? And ultimately what is a little memory enhancement going to hurt? If anything, it just might could improve our society and make us better learners.