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experiencing menopause, along with a reduction in estrogen, frequently report memory
difficulties (Chester, 2001).[28]
Our knowledge of the role of biology in memory suggests that it might be possible to use drugs
to improve our memories, and Americans spend several hundred million dollars per year on
memory supplements with the hope of doing just that. Yet controlled studies comparing memory
enhancers, including Ritalin, methylphenidate, ginkgo biloba, and amphetamines, with placebo
drugs find very little evidence for their effectiveness (Gold, Cahill, & Wenk, 2002; McDaniel,
Maier, & Einstein, 2002). [29] Memory supplements are usually no more effective than drinking a
sugared soft drink, which also releases glucose and thus improves memory slightly. This is not to
say that we cannot someday create drugs that will significantly improve our memory. It is likely
that this will occur in the future, but the implications of these advances are as yet unknown
(Farah et al., 2004; Turner & Sahakian, 2006). [30]
Although the most obvious potential use of drugs is to attempt to improve memory, drugs might
also be used to help us forget. This might be desirable in some cases, such as for those suffering
from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who are unable to forget disturbing memories.
Although there are no existing therapies that involve using drugs to help people forget, it is
possible that they will be available in the future. These possibilities will raise some important
ethical issues: Is it ethical to erase memories, and if it is, is it desirable to do so? Perhaps the
experience of emotional pain is a part of being a human being. And perhaps the experience of
emotional pain may help us cope with the trauma.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Information is better remembered when it is meaningfully elaborated.
- Hermann Ebbinghaus made important contributions to the study of learning, including modeling the forgetting curve,
and studying the spacing effect and the benefits of overlearning. - Context- and state-dependent learning, as well as primacy and recency effects, influence long-term memory.
- Memories are stored in connected synapses through the process of long-term potentiation (LTP). In addition to the
cortex, other parts of the brain, including the hippocampus, cerebellum, and the amygdala, are also important in
memory.