Reactivation-dependent amnesia in Pavlovian approach and instrumental transfer
Abstract
The theory of memory reconsolidation relates to the hypothesized restabilisation process that occurs following the reactivation of a memory through retrieval. Thus the demonstration of reactivation-dependent amnesia for a previously acquired memory is a prerequisite for showing that such a memory undergoes reconsolidation. Here we show that the appetitive Pavlovian representations that underlie Pavlovian approach and Pavlovian-instrumental transfer are destabilized following their retrieval. This reactivation-dependent amnesia demonstrates that the general motivational or incentive properties of appetitive conditioned stimuli, as well as their conditioned reinforcing properties, can be reduced by blocking memory reconsolidation.
Footnotes
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↵1 Present address: University of Birmingham, School of Psychology, Edgbaston, Birmingham B152TT, UK.
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↵2 Corresponding author.
↵2 E-mail joff{at}cantab.net; fax +44-121-414-4897.
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.1029808.
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- Received April 14, 2008.
- Accepted June 11, 2008.
- Copyright © 2008, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
