New episodic learning interferes with the reconsolidation of autobiographical memories

  • It is commonly assumed that, with time, an initially labile memory is transformed into a permanent one via a process of consolidation. Yet, recent evidence indicates that memories can return to a fragile state again when reactivated, requiring a period of reconsolidation. In the study described here, we found that participants who memorized a story immediately after they had recalled neutral and emotional experiences from their past were impaired in their memory for the neutral (but not for the emotional) experiences one week later. The effect of learning the story depended critically on the preceding reactivation of the autobiographical memories since learning without reactivation had no effect. These results suggest that new learning impedes the reconsolidation of neutral autobiographical memories.

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Metadaten
Author:Lars SchwabeGND, Oliver T. WolfORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-76402
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007519
Parent Title (English):PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
Place of publication:San Francisco
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2020/11/13
Date of first Publication:2009/10/21
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Volume:4
Issue:10, Article e7519
First Page:e7519-1
Last Page:e7519-4
Institutes/Facilities:Institut für Kognitive Neurowissenschaft, Abteilung Kognitionspsychologie
Research Department of Neuroscience
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
faculties:Fakultät für Psychologie
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International