Huang: Unpleasant memories give us perspective

Some novice softball players learn how to catch a deep fly ball almost immediately after they… Some novice softball players learn how to catch a deep fly ball almost immediately after they begin the sport. I nearly died during one of my first attempts.

My coach batted me a deep fly ball at practice one afternoon, and my eyes followed the fluorescent polyurethane ball until it blended with the sun.

Within seconds, the ball knocked the top of my forehead, and I hit the grass. My vision went black.

Luckily, my visor lessened the impact of the hit, and I soon regained consciousness. But sometimes I wish I could erase that episode from my mind and forget the pain and shame I felt.

I’ve wondered at one point or another what life would be like if I could erase all the unpleasant experiences and people from my mind. I’d preserve only the memories of people who have made me happy, eliminating from my mind the friends who have betrayed me, the politicians who have disappointed me and the guys who have broken my heart.

Well, technological advances within the next few decades might enable me to do just that.

The journal Neuron reported in 2008 that researchers from the Medical College of Georgia experimented with mice and found a way to remove specific memories by manipulating a certain protein.

The process didn’t damage brain cells. The study’s outcome supports the feasibility of developing a way to remove selective memories from the brain.

But humans are not laboratory mice, and even though some scientists have said certain memory systems will likely work identically on people, no one has undergone such an experiment that would surely prompt ethical concerns.

So how do we know if similar memory-erasing procedures will work on humans?

A recent New York Times article reported that researchers at a medical center in Brooklyn have discovered how to erase certain memories with an experimental drug that blocks chemical activity in the brain needed to retain learned information.

Continued research in neuroscience, a growing field that has attracted billions of dollars toward brain-related projects, will reveal if memory editing truly works — whether for helping victims of traumatic loss or helping the average heartbroken girl move on with her life.

But erasing unpleasant memories does not necessarily guarantee a happier, easier life.

Take the 2004 hit “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” for example.

The film’s characters Joel and Clementine experience a bad turn in their relationship and decide to erase each other from their memories by undergoing a psychiatric experiment.

But they later regret the procedure after realizing how much their relationship actually mattered to them.

It’s the classic example that people don’t treasure what they have until it’s gone — a sad truth of life.

Even if it seems convenient and cutting edge to erase unpleasant memories, we have our happy and unhappy experiences for a reason.

If we did not have the painful memories from our past, we might not value the pleasant memories as much as we do or should. If I had to choose, I wouldn’t want to give up any of my unpleasant memories.

I don’t want to forget the band concert at which I forgot to empty the spit valve on my French horn before an approaching solo. It was frustrating, embarrassing and pretty gross, but I never forgot to empty my spit valve after that incident.

Would I feel happier after deleting my not-so-perfect memories from a relationship but still having the overall memory of the relationship? Absolutely not. It would cause a void in my life, and I would probably dwell on seeking closure.

Going through painful memories, whether emotionally or physically, has enabled me to know what to do when I have to face similar situations.

When that softball knocked me unconscious, I learned effective techniques on how to prevent the sunlight from blinding me while catching a fly ball.

Sure, I might have eventually been able to improve on catching fly balls, but that harsh memory made the process much more vivid for me.

It was painful. It was embarrassing. But I don’t want to forget.

E-mail Sherri some of your happy memories at shh59@pitt.edu.