Updating contextual information during consolidation as result of a new memory trace

Reconsolidation studies have led to the hypothesis that memory, when labile, would be modified in order to incorporate new information. This view has reinstated original propositions suggesting that short-term memory provides the organism with an opportunity to evaluate and rearrange information bef...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Suárez, Luis Daniel, Smal, Leticia, Delorenzi, Alejandro
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2010
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/98642
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/98642
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:CONSOLIDATION
MEMORY UPDATE
RECONSOLIDATION
SHORT-TERM MEMORY
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Description
Summary:Reconsolidation studies have led to the hypothesis that memory, when labile, would be modified in order to incorporate new information. This view has reinstated original propositions suggesting that short-term memory provides the organism with an opportunity to evaluate and rearrange information before storing it, since it is concurrent with the labile state of consolidation. The Chasmagnathus associative memory model is used here to test whether during consolidation it is possible to change some attribute of recently acquired memories. In addition, it is tested whether these changes in behavioral memory features can be explained as modifications on the consolidating memory trace or as a consequence of a new memory trace. We show that short-term memory is, unlike long-term memory, not context specific. During this short period after learning, behavioral memory can be updated in order to incorporate new contextual information. We found that, during this period, the cycloheximide retrograde amnesic effect can be reverted by a single trial in a new context. Finally, by means of memory sensitivity to cycloheximide during consolidation and reconsolidation, we show that the learning of a new context (CS) during this short-term memory period builds up a new memory trace that sustains the behavioral memory update.