Publication Date:
2009-12-17
Description:
Recent research on changing fears has examined targeting reconsolidation. During reconsolidation, stored information is rendered labile after being retrieved. Pharmacological manipulations at this stage result in an inability to retrieve the memories at later times, suggesting that they are erased or persistently inhibited. Unfortunately, the use of these pharmacological manipulations in humans can be problematic. Here we introduce a non-invasive technique to target the reconsolidation of fear memories in humans. We provide evidence that old fear memories can be updated with non-fearful information provided during the reconsolidation window. As a consequence, fear responses are no longer expressed, an effect that lasted at least a year and was selective only to reactivated memories without affecting others. These findings demonstrate the adaptive role of reconsolidation as a window of opportunity to rewrite emotional memories, and suggest a non-invasive technique that can be used safely in humans to prevent the return of fear.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3640262/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉 〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3640262/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schiller, Daniela -- Monfils, Marie-H -- Raio, Candace M -- Johnson, David C -- Ledoux, Joseph E -- Phelps, Elizabeth A -- K05 MH067048/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- P50 MH058911/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH038774/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH046516/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R21 MH072279/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R37 MH038774/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada -- England -- Nature. 2010 Jan 7;463(7277):49-53. doi: 10.1038/nature08637. Epub 2009 Dec 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20010606" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Conditioning, Classical/*physiology
;
Cues
;
Electrodes
;
Electroshock
;
Extinction, Psychological/*physiology
;
Fear/*physiology/*psychology
;
Humans
;
Memory/*physiology
;
Models, Neurological
;
Models, Psychological
;
Neuronal Plasticity/*physiology
;
Photic Stimulation
;
Time Factors
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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