Mental Manipulation

Mental manipulation is the ability to manipulate the upper brain functions, enabling one to render others unconscious, erase their memories, and negate the use of abilities.

Characters[]

René has this ability naturally.
Shane also has this ability naturally.
Keitaro Kiryuu has mimicked this ability from Shane.
Liz Jones has indirectly mimicked this ability from Shane via Keitaro.
Victoria Maxted also possessed this ability naturally.
Peter Petrelli has mimicked this ability in World 2, World 3, World 8 and World 11.
Noah Gray has mimicked this ability.
Abbie Gray has mimicked this ability.
David Johnston has this ability naturally.
Arthur Petrelli has taken this ability from Peter in World 2 and World 5.
An unknown villain in World 2 displayed this ability.
Robert Max has also mimicked the ability.
Mrs. Millbrook also had this ability in World 8.
Shaylene Bishop will have this ability naturally.
Amelle Liraz has this ability naturally.

Limits[]

René[]

René by now has great skill with this ability. He can target specific memories to erase even if they are decades old, and can erase enough memories to remove a person's identity. This erasure can sometimes induce side-effects such as passing out, and repeated memory erasure caused Sandra Bennet to develop a subdural hemorrhage. He has also once forced a person to access a particular set of memories. He has stated that he doesn't experience any trouble remembering things himself, but it is unknown whether this is due to any use of his ability. It is known that he cannot return the memories of others after he's taken them, but they can be healed by other means. Shortly after manifesting, he accidentally wiped the minds of his entire village, leaving them completely mindless. This is the only example of him erasing memories without physical contact, which could be the reason for the lack of precision. He was also accidentally negating his father's ability. He can negate specific abilities while allowing others to use theirs, or alternatively block all abilities in his presence even if he doesn't know the individual is there. However, he struggles when attempting to block a powerful individual with several skilled abilities, and his blocking of telepathy was once overcome with effort by Matt Parkman Snr. His own emotional state could interfere with his control of the ability, particularly shortly after manifestation, though he is believed to have overcome this limitation by now.

Shane[]

Shane has only been displayed using a general, location-wide block.

Keitaro Kiryuu[]

Keitaro should have the same limits as Shane, but has specifically targeted abilities to negate. He has not affected memories yet. He didn't seem limited at all by emotional state, since he accessed the ability effectively when using it to save his sister.

Liz Jones[]

Liz should have the same limits as Keitaro and Shane, but is yet to use the ability.

Victoria Maxted[]

Victoria could use this ability to erase memories, block other abilities and render others unconscious. She also once used the ability to return her own memories, after the same ability had been used by an agent to erase them. However, she wouldn't have been able to do the same to others.

Peter Pet re lli[]

Peter has similar limits to René in each world he's mimicked this ability in, with less skill since he is much less practiced at using it. However, he has not used it yet in World 2 or World 3. In World 8 he attempted to use it to negate his own abilities when he was losing control of poison emission, but ended up accidentally knocking himself unconscious instead, due to a combination of lack of control and his ability preservation. In World 11, he has been unknowingly and subconsciously using it to negate intuitive aptitude since he reabsorbed the ability from Amelle Liraz.

Noah Gray[]

Noah should have the same limits as René and Peter, but is yet to display it.

Abbie Gray[]

Abbie should have the same limits as René and Peter, but again is yet to use the ability.

David Johnston[]

David has skill with the ability. His limits appear to be similar to René's. He has erased memories several times in his past, and blocks abilities at almost all times. He claims to never struggle to contain any evolved humans, no matter how powerful they may be, but it is unknown whether this is true or not.

Arthur Petrelli[]

Arthur had the same limits as René and Peter.

World 2 Villain[]

This man was shown using the ability to selectively block unknown abilities, while sparing his allies' abilities. He was powerful enough to block multiple abilities, without struggling. He didn't display the other aspects.

Robert Max[]

Robert has not displayed the ability, but ought to have similar limits to René.

Mrs. Millbrook[]

Mrs. Millbrook has only shown the capacity to block abilities with this ability. She didn't seem able to control it, and was continually blocking her son's abilities, preventing him from healing her cancer. She may also have been negating her daughter's ability before.

Shaylene Bishop[]

Shaylene will struggle to control her ability at first, and will automatically block all abilities when she manifests, but she will soon learn to control it. After that, she'll be able to continue blocking all at will, and she'll be able to block specific abilities or specific people. However, she will still sometimes reflexively block all like a beacon, especially when particularly frightened. She'll also be able to remove any memories with physical contact, and will be able to erase a person's entire identity. In addition to this, she'll be able to render others unconscious using touch, and will occasionally find herself capable of forcing others to access particular memories.

Amelle Liraz[]

After she manifested, Amelle was at first unknowingly negating her other abilities and Peter's abilities. However, once she realised it was her doing, she quickly learned how to stop the negation. She also realised that she had manifested it much earlier than she originally thought, shortly after she first met Peter. She and he had both been using it to negate the intuitive aptitude he had absorbed. In future, she will learn to negate specific people and to produce a powerful beacon-like effect which will negate all abilities in the area, though she will find doing so more draining than specific work. Her ability is powerful, and she will not struggle in holding even the most potent abilities. Later again, she will learn to erase memories and to knock people unconscious. These will be the weaker aspects of her ability use.

Similar Abilities[]

Neurocognitive deficit is the ability to shut down the upper brain functions
Memory manipulation, memory erasing, memory absorption, absorption and psychic theft can be used to remove memories also
Amnesia is the ability to selectively remove one's memories or information
Mental mimicry is the ability to copy mental aspects of a person
Ability negation is the ability to negate others abilities
Ability negativity and ability manipulation can also be used to negate abilities
Ability disruption is the ability to disrupt the abilities of others
Telepathy and psychokinesis can also remove specific memories or wipe a mind
Human manipulation can also be used to remove memories and to render someone unconscious
Blocking can block abilities
History alteration and memory alteration can also remove memories
Human omnipotence can remove memories and abilities and render someone unconscious
Inability is the ability to remove abilities within a certain radias, without any exception
Trait and ability negation is the ability to negate both unique abilities and traits common to an entire species.