The Brain: The Flavor Of Memories

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Medications like D-cycloserine may simply streamline the process. Indeed, says Davis, at least one study showed patients on D-cycloserine getting as much benefit in two sessions as would normally take about eight. "That's exactly what they're finding in obsessive-compulsive trials too," he says. There are, moreover, a number of other brain receptors and chemicals that show promise in accelerating the formation of new associations. Says Davis: "People are now working on different targets because we know so little about the process. What we have now could be the tip of the iceberg."

And that's hardly surprising. Even without anything approaching a complete understanding of the complexities of the human brain, neurologists and psychopharmacologists have come up with dozens of medications to treat schizophrenia, depression and other disorders. The next batch of psychoactive drugs could provide ammunition against the even more mysterious disorders of memory.