Abstract
This chapter highlights how advances in reconsolidation research could lead to the development of novel treatments to influence traumatic memories. Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffer from recurrent intrusive memories of the traumatic event(s). The concept of reconsolidation implies that already consolidated memories can be changed after reactivating them and applying an update to the original memory trace. This chapter briefly reviews the relevant literature on (mainly human) reconsolidation research. Afterwards, PTSD is explained as a disorder of memory. Finally, first approaches are described that make use of postulated reconsolidation-update mechanisms in order to change traumatic memories.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agren T, Engman J, Frick A, Björkstrand J, Larsson E-M, Furmark T, Fredrikson M (2012) Disruption of reconsolidation erases a fear memory trace in the human amygdala. Science 337(6101):1550–1552. doi:10.1126/science.1223006
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th edn. American Psychiatric Publishing
Arntz A (2012) Imagery rescripting as a therapeutic technique: review of clinical trials, basic studies, and research agenda. J Exp Psychopathol 3(2):189–208
Axmacher N, Do Lam AT, Kessler H, Fell J (2010) Natural memory beyond the storage model: repression, trauma, and the construction of a personal past. Front Hum Neurosci 4:211
Bartlett FC (1932) Remembering: a study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Besnard A, Caboche J, Laroche S (2012) Reconsolidation of memory: a decade of debate. Prog Neurobiol 99:61–80
Brewin CR (2003) Posttraumatic stress disorder: malady or myth?. Yale University Press, New Haven
Brewin CR (2014) Episodic memory, perceptual memory and their interaction: foundations for a theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychol Bull 140:69–97. doi:10.1037/a0033722
Brunet A, Orr SP, Tremblay J, Robertson K, N K, Pitman RK (2008) Effect of post-retrieval propranolol on psychophysiologic responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery in post-traumatic stress disorder. J Psychiatr Res 42(6):503–506. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2007.05.006
Brunet A, Ashbaugh AR, Saumier D, Nelson M, Pitman RK, Tremblay J et al (2011a) Does reconsolidation occur in humans: a reply. Front Behav Neurosci 5:74
Brunet A, Poundja J, Tremblay J, Bui E, Thomas E, Orr SP et al (2011b) Trauma reactivation under the influence of propranolol decreases posttraumatic stress symptoms and disorder: 3 open-label trials. J Clin Psychopharmacol 31(4):547–550. doi:10.1097/JCP.0b013e318222f360
Brunet A, Thomas É, Saumier D, Ashbaugh AR, Azzoug A, Pitman RK et al (2014) Trauma reactivation plus propranolol is associated with durably low physiological responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery. Can J Psychiatry (Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie) 59(4):S228–232
Chan JC, LaPaglia JA (2013) Impairing existing declarative memory in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110:9309–9313
de Quervain D (2007) Preventive effect of β-adrenoceptor blockade on glucocorticoid-induced memory retrieval deficits. Am J Psychiatry 164(6):967. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.164.6.967
Ehlers A, Clark DM (2000) A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behav Res Ther 38:319–345
Finnie PSB, Nader K (2012) The role of metaplasticity mechanisms in regulating memory destabilization and reconsolidation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36:1667–1707
Forcato C, Rodriguez ML, Pedreira ME (2011) Repeated labilization-reconsolidation processes strengthen declarative memory in humans. PLoS ONE 6:e23305
Freud S, Breuer J (1895) Studien über hysterie. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M
Gahr M, Schonfeldt-Lecuona C, Spitzer M, Graf H (2014) Electroconvulsive therapy and posttraumatic stress disorder: first experience with conversation-based reactivation of traumatic memory contents and subsequent ECT-mediated impairment of reconsolidation. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 26(3):E38–9. doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13070159
Giustino TF, Fitzgerald PJ, Maren S (2016) Revisiting propranolol and PTSD: memory erasure or extinction enhancement? Neurobiol Learn Mem 130:26–33. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2016.01.009
Golkar A, Bellander M, Olsson A, Ohman A (2012) Are fear memories erasable?-reconsolidation of learned fear with fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli. Front Behav Neurosci 6:80
Holmes EA, Craske MG, Graybiel AM (2014) A call for mental-health science. Clinicians and neuroscientists must work together to understand and improve psychological treatments [Comment]. Nature 511:287–289. doi:10.1038/511287a
Hupbach A, Gomez R, Hardt O, Nadel L (2007) Reconsolidation of episodic memories: a subtle reminder triggers integration of new information. Learn Mem 14:47–53
James W (1892) Psychology: the briefer course. Harper, Torchbooks, New York
James EL et al (2015) Computer game play reduces intrusive memories of experimental trauma via reconsolidation update mechanisms. Psychol Sci 1–15. doi:10.1177/0956797615583071 (OnlineFirst)
James EL, Lau-Zhu A, Clark IA, Visser RM, Hagenaars MA, & Holmes EA (2016) The trauma film paradigm as an experimental psychopathology model of psychological trauma: intrusive memories and beyond. Clin Psychol Rev 47:106–142. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2016.04.010
Janet P (1894) Der Geisteszustand der Hysterischen. Deuticke, Leipzig/Wien
Kindt M, Soeter M, Vervliet B (2009) Beyond extinction: erasing human fear responses and preventing the return of fear. Nat Neurosci 12:256–258. doi:http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v12/n3/full/nn.2271.html
Kroes MCW, Strange BA, Dolan RJ (2010) Beta-adrenergic blockade during memory retrieval in humans evokes a sustained reduction of declarative emotional memory enhancement. J Neurosci Official J Soc Neurosci 30(11):3959–3963. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5469-09.2010
Kroes MCW et al (2014) An electroconvulsive therapy procedure impairs reconsolidation of episodic memories in humans. Nat Neurosci 17:204–2016. doi:10.1038/nn.3609
Lane RD, Ryan L, Nadel L, & Greenberg L (2015) Memory reconsolidation, emotional arousal, and the process of change in psychotherapy: new insights from brain science. Behav Brain Sci, 38, e1
Lewis DJ (1969) Sources of experimental amnesia. Psychol Rev 76:461–472
Loftus EF (2005) Planting misinformation in the human mind: a 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory. Learn Mem 12:361–366
Lonergan MH, Olivera-Figueroa LA, Pitman RK, Brunet A (2013) Propranolol’s effects on the consolidation and reconsolidation of long-term emotional memory in healthy participants: a meta-analysis. J Psychiatry Neurosci JPN 38(4):222–231. doi:10.1503/jpn.120111
Marks EH, Zoellner LA (2014) Attenuating fearful memories: effect of cued extinction on intrusions. Emotion (Washington, DC) 14(6):S1143–1154. doi:10.1037/a0037862
McNally RJ (2003) Remembering trauma. Harvard University Press. Traumatic experiences are unforgettable, Cambridge, MA
Merlo E, Milton AL, Goozée ZY, Theobald DE, Everitt BJ (2014) Reconsolidation and extinction are dissociable and mutually exclusive processes: behavioral and molecular evidence. J Neurosci Official J Soc Neurosci 34(7):2422–2431. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4001-13.2014
Milekic MH, Alberini CM (2002) Temporally graded requirement for protein synthesis following memory reactivation. Neuron 36(3):521–525. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(02)00976-5
Misanin JR, Miller RR, Lewis DJ (1968) Retrograde amnesia produced by electroconvulsive shock after reactivation of a consolidated memory trace. Science 160:554–555
Nadel L, Hupbach A, Gomez R, Newman-Smith K (2012) Memory formation, consolidation and transformation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36:1640–1645
Nader K, Hardt O (2009) A single standard for memory: the case for reconsolidation. Nat Rev Neurosci 10:224–234
Nader K, Schafe G, LeDoux J (2000a) The labile nature of consolidation theory. Nat Rev Neurosci 1:216–219
Nader K, Schafe GE, LeDoux JE (2000b) Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval. Nature 406:722–726
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2005) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): the management of PTSD in adults and children in primary and secondary care. Report No. CG026. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, London
Oyarzun JP, Lopez-Barroso D, Fuentemilla L, Cucurell D, Pedraza C, Rodriguez-Fornells A, de Diego-Balaguer R (2012) Updating fearful memories with extinction training during reconsolidation: a human study using auditory aversive stimuli. PLoS ONE 7(6):e38849
Pitman RK (1989) Post-traumatic stress disorder, hormones, and memory. Biol Psychiatry 26:221–223
Pitman RK, Delahanty DL (2005) Conceptually driven pharmacologic approaches to acute trauma. CNS Spectr 10(2):99–106
Przybyslawski J, Roullet P, Sara SJ (1999) Attenuation of emotional and nonemotional memories after their reactivation, role of beta adrenergic receptors. J Neurosci 19:6623–6628
Sara SJ (2000) Retrieval and reconsolidation: toward a neurobiology of remembering. Learn Mem 7:73–84
Schiller D, Phelps EA (2011) Does reconsolidation occur in humans? Front Behav Neurosci 5:24
Schiller D et al (2010) Preventing the return of fear in humans using reconsolidation update mechanisms. Nature 463:49–53
Schwabe L, Nader K, Wolf OT, Beaudry T, Pruessner JC (2012) Neural signature of reconsolidation impairments by propranolol in humans. Biol Psychiatry 71(4):380–386. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.10.028
Schwabe L, Nader K, Pruessner JC (2014) Reconsolidation of human memory: Brain mechanisms and clinical relevance. Biol Psychiatry 76(4):274–280
Sevenster D, Beckers T, Kindt M (2012) Retrieval per se is not sufficient to trigger reconsolidation of human fear memory. Neurobiol Learn Mem 97(3):338–345. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2012.01.009
Shapiro F (2001) Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: Basic principles, protocols and procedures, 2nd edn. Guilford, New York
Soeter M, Kindt M (2010) Dissociating response systems: erasing fear from memory. Neurobiol Learn Mem 94(1):30–41. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2010.03.004
Soeter M, Kindt M (2011) Disrupting reconsolidation: pharmacological and behavioral manipulations. Learn Mem 18(6):357–366
Suzuki A, Josselyn SA, Frankland PW, Masushige S, Silva AJ, Kida S (2004) Memory reconsolidation and extinction have distinct temporal and biochemical signatures. J Neurosci Official J Soc Neurosci 24(20):4787–4795. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5491-03.2004
Tollenaar MS, Elzinga BM, Spinhoven P, Everaerd W (2009a) Immediate and prolonged effects of cortisol, but not propranolol, on memory retrieval in healthy young men. Neurobiol Learn Mem 91(1):23–31. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2008.08.002
Tollenaar MS, Elzinga BM, Spinhoven P, Everaerd W (2009b) Psychophysiological responding to emotional memories in healthy young men after cortisol and propranolol administration. Psychopharmacology 203(4):793–803. doi:10.1007/s00213-008-1427-x
van den Hout M, Engelhard IM (2012) How does EMDR work? J Exp Psychopathol 3(5):724–738
Van der Kolk BA (2007) The history of trauma in psychiatry. In: Friedman MJ, Keane TM, Resick PA (eds) Handbook of PTSD: science and practice. Guilford Press, New York, pp 19–36
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kessler, H., Blackwell, S.E., Kehyayan, A. (2017). Reconsolidation and Trauma Memory. In: Axmacher, N., Rasch, B. (eds) Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory Consolidation. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45066-7_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45066-7_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45064-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-45066-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)