Memory reconsolidation

In plain words

1. Memories are re-saved1

   Recalling a memory can open it up; to last, it has to be stored again, and while open it can be changed.

2. Shown first with fear in rats2

   In 2000, rats lost a learned fear only when a drug was given in the amygdala soon after the fear was recalled.

3. Not the same as extinction3

   Ecker argues extinction stacks a new learning on top of the old, which can return, while reconsolidation changes the old learning itself.

Examples: the mismatch in practice

1. The mismatch, in plain terms7

   Recalling a memory is not enough to open it; what opens it is a mismatch between what the memory predicts and what actually happens. Surprise is what drives new learning.

2. In the lab7

   In human fear-conditioning studies, reconsolidation happened when a shock arrived, or failed to arrive, in a way the warning cue did not fully predict.

3. Spider fear7

   People with spider fear were told they would touch a tarantula; after two minutes near it the terrarium was closed without touching, and they took propranolol. Avoidance turned into approach, lasting at least a year.

4. Too much or too little7

   In pilot runs, being asked to actually touch the spider left many too distressed, and only approaching it was not threatening enough; neither version worked.

5. When it becomes extinction7

   Long, repeated exposure without the feared outcome produces many prediction errors and builds a new, competing learning (extinction) instead.

6. In a therapy session5

   Illustration: a client who learned "if I show need, I'll be rejected" feels that expectation vividly in session while the therapist responds warmly. The old learning is active and contradicted at the same moment, then the new experience is practised in many settings.

7. Why a symptom makes sense3

   Coherence therapy looks for the learning that makes a symptom necessary, such as depression that protects against feeling and expressing anger, or depression from isolation that is itself a way of feeling safe.

How therapists use it

The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.

1. Three ingredients (Lane, Nadel, Greenberg and others, 2015)5

   Reactivate the old emotional memory, have a new emotional experience while it is active, then practise the new way across many contexts.

2. Coherence therapy3

   Ecker and Hulley hold that symptoms come from unconscious emotional learnings that make them necessary, and that unlearning these ends the symptom.

3. 2012 · 14 years ago

   Unlocking the Emotional Brain3

   Ecker, Ticic and Hulley's book applies this principle to other psychotherapies.

What the research says

1. Solid in the lab4

   Reviewers call reconsolidation impairment a robust, well-replicated effect in humans, with clinical use promising but needing controlled trials.

2. Not always reproducible1

   Some studies failed to show that recall makes memories changeable; the effect may need specific conditions.

3. Developer-led claims3

   The evidence that coherence therapy works through reconsolidation comes mainly from its developers and their collaborators.

4. A field with open challenges6

   A 2017 review by Lee, Nader and Schiller surveys translational work and addresses recent challenges to the field.