Intense emotional experiences and enhanced training prevent memory loss induced by post-training amnesic treatments administered to the striatum, amygdala, hippocampus or substantia nigra

Abstract

Most of the work related to the neurobiological basis of memory has been guided by the memory consolidation theory, which was derived from the seminal work of Miiller and Pilzecker that was published over a century ago. This theory proposes that the transfer from short- to long-term memory is mediated by a process called consolidation,and while consolidation is taking place, the information to be stored is in a labile state. A great deal of experimentation has given strong support to this proposal,as it has been found repeatedly that interference with neural activity shortly after a learning experience impedes durable retention of that experience. A growing body of evidence, however, indicates that intense emotional experiences prevent memory loss induced by amnesic treatments,even when these treatments are administered intracerebrally shortly after the learning experience. This evidence implies that the memory consolidation theory cannot account for long-term memory formation when neural activity is disrupted while consolidation should be taking place, and it calls for new hypotheses to account for these findings.