Book contents
- The Neuroethics of Memory
- The Neuroethics of Memory
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Memory Systems and Memory Stages
- 2 Agency, Identity and Dementia
- 3 Anesthesia, Amnesia and Recall
- 4 Disorders of Memory Content and Interventions
- 5 Disorders of Memory Capacity and Interventions
- 6 Legal Issues Involving Memory
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
3 - Anesthesia, Amnesia and Recall
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2019
- The Neuroethics of Memory
- The Neuroethics of Memory
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Memory Systems and Memory Stages
- 2 Agency, Identity and Dementia
- 3 Anesthesia, Amnesia and Recall
- 4 Disorders of Memory Content and Interventions
- 5 Disorders of Memory Capacity and Interventions
- 6 Legal Issues Involving Memory
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter discusses whether and in what respects patients who experience intraoperative awareness with recall can be harmed by it. The chapter considers psychological and pharmacological interventions that might prevent, weaken or erase memories of intraoperative awareness. When awareness is detected during surgery, mechanisms of memory encoding and consolidation may be difficult to reverse. Intervening in the brain to erase memories already consolidated is even more difficult. If a patient recalls being aware days or weeks after surgery, then the memory may be resistant to modification. Nevertheless, memory research and actual cases indicate that these memories can be prevented by administering consolidation-blocking drugs to induce anterograde amnesia. It is also theoretically possible for reconsolidation-blocking drugs to induce retrograde amnesia and eliminate memories of awareness.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Neuroethics of MemoryFrom Total Recall to Oblivion, pp. 84 - 111Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019