Abstract
Disrupting memory reconsolidation provides an opportunity to abruptly reduce the behavioural expression of fear memories with long-lasting effects. The success of a reconsolidation intervention is, however, not guaranteed as it strongly depends on the destabilization of the memory. Identifying the necessary conditions to trigger destabilization remains one of the critical challenges in the field. We aimed to replicate a study from our lab, showing that the occurrence of a prediction error (PE) during reactivation is necessary but not sufficient for destabilization. We tested the effectiveness of a reactivation procedure consisting of a single PE, compared to two control groups receiving no or multiple PEs. All participants received propranolol immediately after reactivation and were tested for fear retention 24 h later. In contrast to the original results, we found no evidence for a reconsolidation effect in the single PE group, but a straightforward interpretation of these results is complicated by the lack of differential fear retention in the control groups. Our results corroborate other failed reconsolidation studies and exemplify the complexity of experimentally investigating this process in humans. Thorough investigation of the interaction between learning and memory reactivation is essential to understand the inconsistencies in the literature and to improve reconsolidation interventions.
Highlights
Disrupting memory reconsolidation provides an opportunity to abruptly reduce the behavioural expression of fear memories with long-lasting effects
Fear responses were measured using fear-potentiated startle measurements[23], and operationalized as differential responding between the conditioned stimulus (CS)+ and the CS−
To investigate whether fear responses were acquired on the first day, we performed a Bayesian Stimulus (CS+, CS−) × Trial (1–6) × Group repeated measures ANOVA on the Fear-potentiated startle (FPS) data
Summary
Disrupting memory reconsolidation provides an opportunity to abruptly reduce the behavioural expression of fear memories with long-lasting effects. Notwithstanding the progress that has been made in understanding the processes that drive memory reconsolidation, over the past years some fundamental observations of human fear memory reconsolidation could not always be replicated in our own lab[15,16] and in other labs[17,18] It appears that the success of a reconsolidation intervention is heavily dependent on the parameters of the reactivation session in interaction with learning h istory[9,10,11,19,20,21]. Manipulating the parameters of this paradigm can help to further define the exact window of opportunity for successful memory reconsolidation, and thereby may shed light on earlier failures to replicate fundamental reconsolidation observations
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