Survival of the salient: Aversive learning rescues otherwise forgettable memories via neural reactivation and post-encoding hippocampal connectivity.

ABSTRACT: The effects of aversive events on memory are complex and go beyond the simple enhancement of threatening information. Negative experiences can also rescue related but otherwise forgettable details encoded close in time. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy young adults to examine the brain mechanisms that support this retrograde memory effect. In a two-phase incidental encoding paradigm, participants viewed different pictures of tools and animals before and during Pavlovian fear conditioning. During Phase 1, these images were intermixed with neutral scenes, which provided a unique 'context tag' for this specific phase of encoding. A few minutes later, during Phase 2, new pictures from one category were paired with a mild shock (threat-conditioned stimulus;

SUBMITTER: Clewett D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8755594 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature