Emotional learning retroactively promotes memory integration through rapid neural reactivation and reorganization.

ABSTRACT: Neutral events preceding emotional experiences can be better remembered, likely by assigning them as significant to guide possible use in future. Yet, the neurobiological mechanisms of how emotional learning enhances memory for past mundane events remain unclear. By two behavioral studies and one functional magnetic resonance imaging study with an adapted sensory preconditioning paradigm, we show rapid neural reactivation and connectivity changes underlying emotion-charged retroactive memory enhancement. Behaviorally, emotional learning retroactively enhanced initial memory for neutral associations across the three studies. Neurally, emotional learning potentiated trial-specific reactivation of overlapping neural traces in the hippocampus and stimulus-relevant neocortex. It further induced

SUBMITTER: Zhu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9815824 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature