How might this be done. In simple terms you could, for example, show the subject a coloured shape, perform the procedure and ask them to recall the colour and shape. If they can't, bingo. But this assumes the subject is not lying for the benefit of the testers. So, you give them an incentive to recall the colour and shape; a big payout or the promise their kneecaps will stay in the same place. But the incentive option doesn't apply here, for reasons I won't bore you with, and the procedure relies on the subject's trust.
They are working on this, so it is close to being outside of its 'infancy' phase. You should be able to extrapolate from these links. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-to-to-erase-your-painful-memories https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170622121944.htm Seems it will be fairly common to erase memories in the near future, as it is to go and get a hair cut. But it will take a bit more than a 20-30 minutes, although it does already exist.
@Cave Troll - Great! You've just turned my future sci-fi novel into a contemporary present day thriller. Joking aside, I was, of course, aware of this research, but I so far haven't been able to garner the specifics I need. I'm learning to move on from these things, though, rather than let them halt my progress as I used to. In the end I just relied on a mutual trust between all involved and I think the scene works fine. My next step it to learn to stop posting for help before I've put any real thought into the answer.
@OurJud I am sorry to make it more modern and less Sci-fi. I am sure you will think of something more futuristic, that involves actually removing the memories from the brain via some kind of special inter-cranial surgery that deletes them entirely. Good Luck.
@Cave Troll - it's all good. I'll just throw a shit-load of holograms, clones and flying cars in there and I'm good to go
Just a caution: avoid the use of the phrase “scientific proof” in your story. Science doesn’t prove things, and if a character uses that phrase it will make them appear incompetent.
I think mentioning a statistic would be the best way to not sound uneducated. My wording in that sentence was intentional. I've taken statistics classes geared toward social sciences, it might take a lot to sound educated, thus the goal should be to avoid a blunder. "Statistically significant" or,"The null could not be rejected" would actually be said. But these concepts are not well understood. Mentioning an understandable statistic seems like the way to go. I say this tentatively.
This is really a question of memory retrieval which is connected to the function/purpose of a retrieved memory. So if a subject fails to retrieve a memory which could otherwise help him solve a task (which is profitable to solve!), then we can assume the memory has been erased...
Yes, this was my initial thought. Either the promise of a reward (if they can remember) or the threat of harm (if they fail to remember) would both have been pretty fool-proof ways of determining if the subject had genuinely forgotten a memory. But the plot by this point didn't allow for that.
