It is becoming increasingly clear that the processes of memory formation and storage are exquisitely dynamic. Elucidating the nature and temporal evolution of the biological changes that accompany encoding, storage, and retrieval is key to understand memory formation. For explicit or medial temporal lobe-dependent memories that form after a discrete event and are stored for a long time, the phy...

The maladaptive drug memory developed between the drug-rewarding effect and environmental cues contributes to difficulty in preventing drug relapse. Established reward memories can be disrupted by pharmacologic interventions following their reactivation. Rapamycin, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, has been proved to be involved in various memory consolidation. Howeve...

Most studies on memory consolidation consider the new information as if it were imposed on a tabula rasa, but considerable evidence indicates that new memories must be interleaved within a large network of relevant pre-existing knowledge. Early studies on reconsolidation highlighted that a newly consolidated memory could be erased after reactivation, but new evidence has shown that an effective...

The nonreinforced expression of long-tem memory may lead to two opposite protein synthesis-dependent processes: extinction and reconsolidation. Extinction weakens consolidated memories, whereas reconsolidation allows incorporation of additional information into them. Knowledge about these two processes has accumulated in recent years, but their possible interaction has not been evaluated yet. H...

Through the process of reconsolidation, memories can be updated to maintain their relevance. To reconsolidate, a memory must first be destabilized in a process that we have hypothesized is initiated by a prediction error signal. Here we demonstrate that dysregulation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) signaling, which is thought to mediate prediction errors, prevented the destabilization of an app...

The processes of memory reconsolidation and extinction have received increasing attention in recent experimental research, as their potential clinical applications begin to be uncovered. A number of studies suggest that amnestic drugs injected after reexposure to a learning context can disrupt either of the two processes, depending on the behavioral protocol employed. Hypothesizing that reconso...

Memory reconsolidation impairment using the β-noradrenergic receptor blocker propranolol is a promising novel treatment avenue for patients suffering from pathogenic memories, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, in order to better inform targeted treatment development, the effects of this compound on memory need to be better characterized via translational research. We exami...

Stress enhances memory consolidation, in particular for emotional material. When reactivated, consolidated memories return to a fragile state again and thus require another period of stabilization, called reconsolidation. Rodent studies suggest that memory reconsolidation is impaired by stress. Here we examined in healthy humans the effect of stress on the reconsolidation of autobiographical me...

It would be profoundly important if reconsolidation research in animals and other memory domains generalized to human episodic memory. A 3-d-list-discrimination procedure, based on free recall of objects, with a contextual reminder cue (the testing room), has been thought to demonstrate reconsolidation of human episodic memory (as noted in a previous study). Our goal was to replicate the centra...

Memory consolidation is a dynamic process. Reactivation of consolidated memories triggers reconsolidation, a time-limited period during which memories can be modified. Episodic memory refers to our ability to recall specific past events about what happened, including where and when. However, it is unknown whether noninvasive stimulation of the neocortex during reconsolidation might strengthen e...