Surprise and destabilize: prediction error influences episodic memory reconsolidation.

ABSTRACT: Through the process of "reconsolidation," reminders can temporarily destabilize memories and render them vulnerable to change. Recent rodent research has proposed that prediction error, or the element of surprise, is a key component of this process; yet, this hypothesis has never before been extended to complex episodic memories in humans. In our novel paradigm, we used naturalistic stimuli to demonstrate that prediction error enables adaptive updating of episodic memories. In Study 1, participants (N = 48) viewed 18 videos, each depicting an action-outcome event. The next day, we reactivated these memories by presenting the videos again. We found that incomplete reminders, which interrupted videos before the outcome, made memories vulnerable to subsequent interference from a new se

SUBMITTER: Sinclair AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6049395 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature