Post-retrieval extinction as reconsolidation interference: methodological issues or boundary conditions?

Auber, Alessia; Tedesco, Vincenzo; Jones, Carolyn E.; Monfils, Marie‐H.; Chiamulera, Cristiano

doi:10.1007/s00213-013-3004-1

Cited by 133 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Seeking to capitalise on this, a number of studies have examined whether performing extinction trials within the putative 'reconsolidation window' might be more e ective at eliminating fear responses than standard extinction protocols (for review see Auber, Tedesco, Jones, Monfils, & Chiamulera, 2013;Kredlow, Unger, & Otto, 2015). The logic here is that reactivation of a memory trace opens a time-dependent window during which that trace can be modified.…”

Section: Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attempts to replicate the original demonstration of reconsolidation-extinction in rats (Monfils et al, 2009) replications, it can be di cult to ascertain whether a putative reconsolidation process is being modulated by subtle theoretically-irrelevant procedural di erences, or theoretically-relevant 'boundary conditions' (Auber et al, 2013;Haaker et al, 2014 Since its (re)birth a decade and a half ago (Nader et al, 2000a;Przybyslawski & Sara, 1997;Sara, 2000a), the theory of reconsolidation has been buoyed by considerable empirical attention and theoretical excitement (Alberini, 2011;Besnard et al, 2012;Dudai, 2004;Nadel & Land, 2000;Nader et al, 2000b;Nader & Hardt, 2009;Nader, 2015; 21 Note that Agren et al and Bjorkstrand et al also reported correlations between blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in the amygdala and the behavioural return of fear measure. However, we have focused on whether there is a behavioural e ect consistent with reconsolidation theory.…”

Section: Cs = Plus/minusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a review of the reconsolidation-extinction literature, Auber and colleagues (Auber et al, 2013) diligently attempted to extract the relevant boundary conditions or moderators that could be causing discrepant findings (also see . However, they were eventually forced to note that "seemingly slight di erences in methodologies can yield drastically varied results" (Auber et al, 2013, p. 633).…”

Section: Direct Replicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Persistence and plasticity in the human memory system: An empirical investigation of the overwriting hypothesis

Hardwicke¹

2017

Preprint

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The human memory system must resolve a critical tension, ensuring that knowledge endures over time (persistence), whilst simultaneously retaining a capacity for updating when knowledge is outdated or erroneous (plasticity). In this thesis, I examine the provocative idea that memory traces can be overwritten with new information, especially during transient periods of retrieval-induced plasticity that occur when a trace undergoes reconsolidation. A systematic review of human reconsolidation studies finds that the evidentiary support for this claim is remarkably tenuous. Furthermore, the theory fails to survive several strong empirical tests. In Experiments 1-7, I do not replicate a previous finding that is widely cited as a convincing demonstration of human reconsolidation. In Experiments 8-10, I revisit the ‘destructive updating’ account of the classic ‘misinformation effect’ in the context of reconsolidation theory. These experiments show that the effect can be eliminated when an appropriate recognition test is used, demonstrating that event traces are not irrecoverably lost, and therefore cannot have been overwritten during reconsolidation. In Experiment 11, I examine whether prior retrieval will help or hinder the correction of naturally occurring semantic misconceptions. Contrary to reconsolidation theory, I find that knowledge updating is not contingent on memory retrieval, nor does it result in the overwriting of prior knowledge.Finally, in the context of media ‘breaking news’ reports (Experiment 12), I find that the provision of an explicit retraction message, coupled with an alternative account with high causal coverage, is insufficient to eliminate reliance on false information. Finally, I contend that the widespread proliferation of ad hoc hypotheses, and the absence of systematic direct replication, has caused the field of reconsolidation to descend into a theoretical quagmire.I make several recommendations based on the principles of open science that may help to restore mechanisms of self-correction and foster genuine theoretical progress.

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Section: Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cs = Plus/minusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Direct Replicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Persistence and plasticity in the human memory system: An empirical investigation of the overwriting hypothesis

Hardwicke¹

2017

Preprint

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“…Unfortunately, this type of extinction therapy had limited success in preventing relapse in humans or animals (Conklin and Tiffany, 2002;Crombag and Shaham, 2002), signifying a need for alternative cognitive-behavioral strategies for the treatment of addiction. The recent development of postretrieval extinction therapy, however, may offer a more efficacious method of reducing addiction-related memories (Auber et al, 2013;Hutton-Bedbrook and McNally, 2013). In this paradigm, the strengths of both extinction and reconsolidation are combined by presenting an extinction session during the reconsolidation process, when the memory is labile, to disrupt the consolidated memory trace.…”

Section: Post-retrieval Extinction As a Potential Treatment For Addicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Retrieval Extinction Attenuates Cocaine Memories

Sartor

Aston‐Jones

2013

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Recent studies have shown that post-retrieval extinction training attenuates fear and reward-related memories in both humans and rodents. This noninvasive, behavioral approach has the potential to be used in clinical settings to treat maladaptive memories that underlie several psychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. However, few studies to date have used a post-retrieval extinction approach to attenuate addiction-related memories. In the current study, we attempted to disrupt cocaine-related memories by using the post-retrieval extinction paradigm in male Sprague Dawley rats. Results revealed that starting extinction training 1 h after cocaine contextual memory was retrieved significantly attenuated cocaine-primed reinstatement of conditioned place preference (CPP) and relapse of cocaine CPP (drug-free and cocaine-primed) following 30 days of abstinence. However, animals that did not retrieve the contextual cocaine memory before extinction training, or animals that began extinction training 24 h after retrieval (outside of the reconsolidation window), demonstrated normal cocaine CPP. Conversely, animals that received additional CPP conditioning, rather than extinction training, 1 h after reactivation of cocaine memory showed enhanced cocaine CPP compared with animals that did not reactivate the cocaine memory before conditioning. These results reveal that a behavioral manipulation that takes advantage of reconsolidation and extinction of drug memories may be useful in decreasing preference for, and abuse of, cocaine.

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“…The present study is an important step in further characterizing the boundaries within which reconsolidation update mechanisms are viable in humans. As research on reconsolidation progresses, it is becoming increasingly clear that several factors are linked to the effectiveness of targeting reconsolidation to prevent fear (Auber et al 2013). Understanding the boundary conditions (e.g., strength and age of memory) is critical in order to translate these findings to useful clinical interventions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Young and old Pavlovian fear memories can be modified with extinction training during reconsolidation in humans

et al. 2014

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Extinction training during reconsolidation has been shown to persistently diminish conditioned fear responses across species. We investigated in humans if older fear memories can benefit similarly. Using a Pavlovian fear conditioning paradigm we compared standard extinction and extinction after memory reactivation 1 d or 7 d following acquisition. Participants who underwent extinction during reconsolidation showed no evidence of fear recovery, whereas fear responses returned in participants who underwent standard extinction. We observed this effect in young and old fear memories. Extending the beneficial use of reconsolidation to older fear memories in humans is promising for therapeutic applications.[Supplemental material is available for this article.]Learning to predict threat from cues in the environment is adaptive. In order to remain adaptive, however, the memory of the association between a neutral cue and a threat cue, as well as the elicited fear response or defensive behavior, needs to be flexibly modified as situations change. The standard approach to modify fear is extinction or exposure training in which a new, safe association is learned, leading to a gradually diminished fear expression. With extinction, however, fear might return because the original fear memory is not significantly altered and must be inhibited to express the new extinction memory (Bouton 2004). It has been suggested that the inability to consistently inhibit fear memories following extinction or exposure may be a factor in the maladaptive expression of fear in anxiety, trauma, or stress-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Rauch et al. 2006). The potentially temporary nature of extinction or exposure training led to the search for strategies to more persistently alter fear memories, which renewed interest in the post-retrieval memory process of reconsolidation. Reconsolidation is a restabilization process triggered by the retrieval of the original memory (Duvarci and Nader 2004). Interventions that interfere with reconsolidation can persistently alter the expression of fear memories (Nader et al. 2000;Schiller et al. 2010). However, to derive a viable therapeutic technique based on disrupting reconsolidation, it is critical that both recently formed and older fear memories can be altered. Since memories of trauma are often formed long before treatment opportunities are available, it is important to characterize the effectiveness of reconsolidation for older memories. To date, there is little evidence in humans demonstrating the efficacy of targeting reconsolidation to diminish the expression of fear memories .1 d old. The goal of the present study was to start to bridge this gap by targeting reconsolidation in 7-d-old fear memories.Two primary techniques have been used to target the reconsolidation of fear memories: pharmacological and behavioral. These studies have examined fear memories using Pavlovian fear conditioning, in which an aversive unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is paired with a neutral co...

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Post-retrieval extinction as reconsolidation interference: methodological issues or boundary conditions?

Cited by 133 publications

References 92 publications

Persistence and plasticity in the human memory system: An empirical investigation of the overwriting hypothesis

Persistence and plasticity in the human memory system: An empirical investigation of the overwriting hypothesis

Post-Retrieval Extinction Attenuates Cocaine Memories

Young and old Pavlovian fear memories can be modified with extinction training during reconsolidation in humans

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