A Bridge Over Troubled Water: Reconsolidation as a Link Between Cognitive and Neuroscientific Memory Research Traditions

Abstract

There are two research traditions on dynamic memory processes. In cognitive psychology, the malleable nature of long-term memory has been extensively documented. Distortions, such as the misinformation effect or hindsight bias, illustrate that memories can be easily changed, often without their owner taking notice. On the other hand, effects like hypermnesia demonstrate that memory might be more reliable than these distortions suggest. In the neuroscience field, similar observations were obtained mostly from animal studies. Research on memory consolidation suggested that memories become progressively resistant to amnesic treatments over time, but the reconsolidation phenomenon showed that this stability can be transiently lifted when these memories are reactivated, i.e., retrieved. Surprisingly, both research traditions have not taken much notice of each others' advances in understanding memory dynamics. We apply concepts developed in neuroscience to phenomena revealed in cognitive psychology to illustrate how these twins separated at birth may be reunited again.