During the past decade, a large body of research has shown that memory traces can become labile upon retrieval and must be restabilized. Critically, interrupting this reconsolidation process can abolish a previously stable memory. Although a large number of studies have demonstrated this reconsolidation associated amnesia in nonhuman animals, the evidence for its occurrence in humans is far les...

Recent research suggests that drug-related memories are reactivated after exposure to environmental cues and may undergo reconsolidation, a process that can strengthen memories. Conversely, reconsolidation may be disrupted by certain pharmacological agents such that the drug-associated memory is weakened. Several studies have demonstrated disruption of memory reconsolidation using a drug-induce...

Retrieval of consolidated memories induces a labile phase during which memory can be disrupted or updated through a reconsolidation process. A central component of behavioral updating during reconsolidation using a retrieval-extinction manipulation (Ret+Ext) is the synaptic removal of a calcium-permeable-α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate receptor (CP-AMPARs) in the lateral amyg...

of a dissertation at the University of Miami. An important target for combating drug addiction is to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that sub-serve relapse to drug use. Drug addiction is thought to usurp the neural mechanisms of learning and memory. The conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm which employs the principles of Pavlovian learning is often used to investigate the incen...

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 endocannabinoid system (ECS) has a pivotal role in different cognitive functions such as learning and memory. Recent evidence confirm the involvement of the hippocampal CB1 receptors in the modulation of both memory extinction and reconsolidation processes in different brain areas, but few studies focused on the infralimbic cortex, another important cognitive area. Here, we infused the cann...

Established fear-related memories can undergo phenomena such as extinction or reconsolidation when recalled. Extinction probably involves the creation of a new, competing memory trace that decreases fear expression, whereas reconsolidation can mediate memory maintenance, updating, or strengthening. The factors determining whether retrieval will initiate extinction, reconsolidation, or neither o...

Little is known about the ontogenesis of memory, whether it appears with its full characteristics or whether they emerge progressively with development. In the adult, basic characteristics of memory processing are consolidation of memory after acquisition and reconsolidation after retrieval. Here, using a conditioned aversion paradigm and postlearning or postreactivation injection of a protein ...

Adolescence is a time of intensified emotional experiences, during which anxiety and stress-related disorders peak. The most effective behavioral therapies for treating these disorders share exposure-based techniques as a core component. Exposure-based therapies build on the principles of fear extinction learning and involve desensitizing the individual to cues that trigger anxiety. Yet, recent...

Memory reconsolidation is defined as a process in which the retrieval of a previously consolidated memory returns to a labile state which is then subject to stabilization. The reminder is the event that begins with the presentation of the learned cue and triggers the labilization-reconsolidation process. Since the early formulation of the hypothesis, several controversial items have arisen conc...