Reconsolidation of episodic memories: A subtle reminder triggers integration of new information (original) (raw)

Almut Hupbach 1,3,
Rebecca Gomez 1,
Oliver Hardt 2, and
Lynn Nadel 1
1 Department of Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA;
2 Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T5, Canada

Abstract

Recent demonstrations of “reconsolidation” suggest that memories can be modified when they are reactivated. Reconsolidation has been observed in human procedural memory and in implicit memory in infants. This study asks whether episodic memory undergoes reconsolidation. College students learned a list of objects on Day 1. On Day 2, they received a reminder or not, and then learned a second list. Memory for List 1 was tested immediately on Day 2 (Experiment 2) or on Day 3 (Experiment 1). Although the reminder did not moderate the number of items recalled from List 1 on either day, subjects who received a reminder incorrectly intermixed items from the second list when recalling List 1 on Day 3. Experiment 2 showed that this effect does not occur immediately and thus is time-dependent. The reminder did not affect memory for List 2 on Day 3 (Experiment 3), demonstrating that modification occurred only for the original memory (List 1). The study demonstrates the crucial role of reminders for the modification of episodic memory, that reconsolidation of episodic memory is time-dependent, and, in contrast to previous reconsolidation findings, that reconsolidation is also a constructive process, one that supports the incorporation of new information in memory.

Footnotes

↵3 Corresponding author.
↵3 E-mail ahupbach{at}email.arizona.edu; fax (520) 621-9306.
Article published online in January 2007. Article and publication date are at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.365707
4 One could raise the objection that our failure to find differences in List 1 recall stemmed from lack of statistical power. However, we recently replicated this effect in 5- and 9-year-old children. In these age groups, the numerical difference in the recall of List 1 items between the reminder and the no-reminder groups was much smaller. Given that all other effects were replicated in the younger age groups, we are confident that the null effect in Experiment 1 was not simply due to a lack of statistical power.
- Received July 11, 2006.
- Accepted October 31, 2006.