For the Transformers character, see Mindwipe (Transformers)

Mindwipe (Transformers)

Mindwipe is the name of two fictional characters in the Transformers toy line and fictional series by Hasbro. Both are Decepticons.-Transformers: Generation 1:Mindwipe is a Decepticon Headmaster who transforms into a bat....

.

Mindwipe is a technique used in some science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 scenarios, where the subject's memories and personality are erased and replaced by new memories and personality more useful to those who are carrying out the mindwiping, or to their area's authorities. It is a more thorough form of real-world brainwashing. It is sometimes used as an alternative to capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

, or to make the subject more useful to the system. The mind-wiping can be performed by a hypnotic

Hypnotic

Hypnotic drugs are a class of psychoactives whose primary function is to induce sleep and to be used in the treatment of insomnia and in surgical anesthesia...

 or magical ability, or by an electronic device. One well-known example is Borg assimilation in Star Trek.

Mind-wiping is mentioned in:

• Identity Crisis.
• Blake's 7: Blake had been mind-wiped before the story starts, but his memory returned on seeing events at the start of the story.
• The TV series Dollhouse
  Dollhouse (TV series)
  Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. It premiered on February 13, 2009, on the Fox network and was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009. The final episode aired on January 29, 2010...
  
  .
• The 2003 film Paycheck
  Paycheck (film)
  Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by John Woo and stars Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart...
  
  and the short story
  Paycheck (short story)
  "Paycheck" is a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, written on July 31, 1952 and first published in the June, 1953 issue of Imagination...
  
   for its basis.
• Tolkien
  J. R. R. Tolkien
  John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
  
  's fiction, with his character Niënor Níniel, when she met Glaurung
  Glaurung
  Glaurung is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the first of the Dragons. He is also a major antagonist in The Children of Húrin. He was known as The Deceiver, The Golden, The Great Worm and the Worm of...
  
  .
• Eoin Colfer
  Eoin Colfer
  Eoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...
  
  's Artemis Fowl series.
• Is used by Psi-Corps in Babylon 5
  Babylon 5
  Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
  
  against criminals and also to create sleeper agents.
• Selective induction of amnesia
  Amnesia
  Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
  
   is common in the Gerry Anderson UFO
  UFO (TV series)
  UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
  
  TV series.
• The Doctor Who
  Doctor Who
  Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
  
  story Dalek
  Dalek
  The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
  
  , when the technique is used on those who oppose Henry Van Statten, and finally on Van Statten himself.
• And often elsewhere.
• Men in Black