Evidence that baroreflex feedback influences long-term incidental visual memory in men

Noradrenergic modulation of working memory and emotional memory in humans

“…From a clinical perspective, these data suggest that the beta-adrenergic system represents a putative target for the treatment of PTSD (Southwick et al 1999;Giles 2005;van Stegeren 2005). Neuroimaging evidence supports direct involvement of NA-amygdala coupling at the level of encoding, whereas the importance of this region during consolidation and retrieval remains disputed (Moor et al 2005;van Stegeren et al 2005). The alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonist clonidine generally impaired working memory, but findings with the more selective agent guanfacine were inconsistent, and the effects of these drugs on emotional memory could not be evaluated due to a paucity of studies.…”

Interacting brain systems modulate memory consolidation

“…Drugs and other treatments that increase concentrations of epinephrine or glucocorticoids during, or following, learning enhance memory in rats and mice (Gold and van Buskirk, 1978; Introini-Collison et al, 1992; Jurado-Berbel et al, 2010; King and Williams, 2009; Liang et al, 1995; Roozendaal et al, 2006; Williams and McGaugh, 1993; Williams et al, 2000; Williams et al, 1998) as well as human subjects (Cahill and Alkire, 2003; Kuhlmann and Wolf, 2006; Moor et al, 2005; Zoladz et al, 2011). These peripherally acting hormones must, of course, interact with the central nervous system to modulate memory formation.…”

“…The two groups differed only in the middle phase of the study where an emotionally arousing narrative was presented to the experimental group. A common finding of these studies is that heart rate, blood pressure and other sympathetic aspects of arousal, such as the galvanic skin response, are significantly elevated following presentation of emotionally arousing information (Abercrombie et al, 2008; Anderson et al, 2006; Cahill and Alkire, 2003; Cahill et al, 1994; Critchley et al, 2002; Moor et al, 2005; Nielson et al, 2005). More importantly, the magnitude of indices of arousal reliably predicts the percentage of emotional, but not neutral, components of the story that are recalled during retention testing.…”

“…Epinephrine involvement in mediating the consequences of emotional arousal on memory is also indicated by findings of human studies using experimental procedures that increase the release of this adrenal hormone. For instance, many posttraining procedures that increase epinephrine release, including increases in muscle tension (Nielson and Jensen, 1994), application of cold press stressors, or direct administration of epinephrine (Cahill and Alkire, 2003; Moor et al, 2005) produce significant improvements in memory. Further, the memory enhancement produced by these treatments is blocked by drugs (such as propranolol) that prevent epinephrine from binding to beta-adrenergic receptors (Cahill et al, 1994; Hurlemann et al, 2005; van Stegeren, 2008; van Stegeren et al, 1998).…”

Altered Patterns of Heartbeat-Evoked Potentials in Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder

“…Previous findings suggest that exposure to a laboratory stressor (34,35) affect the processing of interoceptive signals. Both physiological stress axes may be involved in this process: first, peripheral sympathetic activation may drive the cardiovascular system and, therefore, increase the afferent neurotransmission from cardiac interoceptors (e.g., baroreceptors), as implied by increased interoceptive accuracy by selective β 1 -adrenergic drugs (36). Second, cortisol levels have been demonstrated to affect the cortical representation (19) and perception of bodily sensations (37)(38)(39).…”