Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges ( LVAIC )

Remembering often occurs as an act of communicating, during which memories can be implanted, reinforced, and suppressed. I will discuss how these consequences of conversational remembering shape the memories of speakers and listeners and how they promote collective remembering and collective forgetting. Their effects on collective memory are discussed in terms of collective identity and collective action. lvsfn Keynote Address fear factor: neurobiology of emotional learning Across development Ms. Siobhan Pattwell, Ph.D. Candidate Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Abstract: Highly conserved neural circuitry between rodents and humans has allowed for in-depth characterization of behavioral and molecular processes associated with emotional learning and memory. Despite increased prevalence of affective disorders in adolescent humans, few studies have characterized how associative-emotional learning changes during the transition through adolescence or identified mechanisms underlying such changes. Fear-conditioned mice were tested on various learning paradigms. Fear memory expression, along with changes in hippocampal molecular signaling and amygdala neurotransmission, was examined at various developmental stages. By examining fear conditioning in mice, as they transitioned into and out of adolescence, we found that a suppression of contextual fear occurs during adolescence. Although contextual fear memories were not expressed during early adolescence, these memories could be retrieved and expressed as the mice transitioned out of adolescence. This temporary suppression of contextual fear was associated with blunted synaptic activity in the basal amygdala and decreased molecular signaling in the hippocampus. These findings reveal a unique form of brain plasticity in fear learning during adolescence and may prove informative for understanding endogenous mechanisms to suppress unwanted fear memories. Highly conserved neural circuitry between rodents and humans has allowed for in-depth characterization of behavioral and molecular processes associated with emotional learning and memory. Despite increased prevalence of affective disorders in adolescent humans, few studies have characterized how associative-emotional learning changes during the transition through adolescence or identified mechanisms underlying such changes. Fear-conditioned mice were tested on various learning paradigms. Fear memory expression, along with changes in hippocampal molecular signaling and amygdala neurotransmission, was examined at various developmental stages. By examining fear conditioning in mice, as they transitioned into and out of adolescence, we found that a suppression of contextual fear occurs during adolescence. Although contextual fear memories were not expressed during early adolescence, these memories could be retrieved and expressed as the mice transitioned out of adolescence. This temporary suppression of contextual fear was associated with blunted synaptic activity in the basal amygdala and decreased molecular signaling in the hippocampus. These findings reveal a unique form of brain plasticity in fear learning during adolescence and may prove informative for understanding endogenous mechanisms to suppress unwanted fear memories.