Article
Psychiatry
Yasmine Azza, Frank H. Wilhelm, Erich Seifritz, Klaus Junghanns, Birgit Kleim, Ines Wilhelm
Summary: Sleep supports adaptive reconsolidation of aversive autobiographical memories, as demonstrated by the reduction of distress and dysfunctional cognitions after imagery rescripting. Central sleep spindle density during the nap is correlated with the decrease in heart rate in response to the negative memory script.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jingyi Wang, Boxuan Chen, Manqi Sha, Yiran Gu, Haitao Wu, Cecilia Forcato, Shaozheng Qin
Summary: The study found that both positive and neutral emotions can disrupt previous aversive memories, triggering more false memories. Additionally, delaying overnight sleep did not further enhance true memory differences, but attenuated the impact of reactivation and updating on false memory. Neutral updating was more effective in reducing the emotional arousal of aversive memories.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tao Xia, Ziqing Yao, Xue Guo, Jing Liu, Danni Chen, Qiang Liu, Ken A. Paller, Xiaoqing Hu
Summary: Post-learning sleep can contribute to memory consolidation, and this study aimed to determine if sleep could be used to modify or update emotional memories. The researchers found that using positive words during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep reduced negative affective judgments of aversive events in post-sleep tests. Electroencephalogram (EEG) analyses showed that positive words modulated theta and spindle/sigma activity, and the success of affective updating was enhanced when positive words coincided with the up phase of slow oscillations during NREM sleep. These findings suggest the potential for modifying unwanted memories during sleep without consciously confronting them.
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Lucas de Oliveira Alvares, Fabricio H. Do-Monte
Summary: Memory formation allows organisms to predict future events and adapt their behavior, but it needs to maintain plasticity to stay relevant in changing environments. Consolidated memories can become unstable after reactivation, and processes like extinction and forgetting can also influence memory fate.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Psychiatry
Johanna M. Duran, Rodrigo O. Sierra, Karen Corredor, Fernando P. Cardenas
Summary: The study evaluated the effects of cathodal (c-tDCS) and anodal (a-DCS) transcranial direct current stimulation on memory reactivation and extinction in rats. The results showed that c-tDCS and a-tDCS can attenuate mild fear memories, with only c-tDCS preventing fear expression under strong fear learning and fear recovery after reinstatement.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Luke J. Ney, Matthew P. O'Donohue, Benjamin G. Lowe, Ottmar V. Lipp
Summary: Previous research indicates that fear conditioning to angry or fearful faces is stronger and has impaired extinction compared to happy or neutral faces. This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of fear conditioning studies using different expressions as face conditional stimuli. The findings suggest that there are small to moderate differences in fear conditioning when angry or fearful faces are used compared to happy or neutral faces.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Laura Luyten, Anna Elisabeth Schnell, Natalie Schroyens, Tom Beckers
Summary: Contrary to expectations, systemic pharmacological manipulations in auditory fear-conditioned rats did not lead to drug-induced post-retrieval amnesia. Our findings suggest that the effect of post-retrieval amnesia may be more constrained and less easily reproduced than previously suggested by the literature.
Article
Neurosciences
Byron E. Crimmins, Nura W. Lingawi, Billy C. Chieng, Beatrice K. Leung, Stephen Maren, Vincent Laurent
Summary: The basolateral amygdala receives dense cholinergic projections from the nucleus basalis of Meyer and the horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca, and these projections play important roles in the formation, extinction, and renewal of fear memories. Silencing the nucleus basalis of Meyer during fear conditioning weakens fear memory formation and prevents its renewal after extinction. On the other hand, silencing the diagonal band of Broca during fear conditioning has no effect. Blocking nicotinic acetylcholine receptors during fear conditioning mimics the effects of silencing the nucleus basalis of Meyer, while blocking them during extinction has no effect. Overall, the cholinergic signaling in the basolateral amygdala is critical for regulating fear memories.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Myrto Panopoulou, Oliver M. Schlueter
Summary: Frequent relapse hinders successful treatment of substance use disorders by triggering the retrieval of drug-associated memories. This study investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying drug-induced memory retrieval using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure in mice. The results suggest that Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) play a key role in regulating the threshold for drug-induced retrieval and behavioral expression of drug memories.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Review
Psychiatry
Xavier Noel
Summary: This article examines the preliminary evidence supporting the combination of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques and memory editing interventions as add-on forms of treatment for individuals with substance-related disorders. It discusses how NIBS can reduce drug use and craving, and how memory reconsolidation can potentially weaken drug-related memories underlying craving and relapse.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Aurelio Franco-Garcia, Victoria Gomez-Murcia, Francisco Jose Fernandez-Gomez, Raul Gonzalez-Andreu, Juana M. Hidalgo, M. Victoria Milanes, Cristina Nu Nunez
Summary: Chromatin modification plays a crucial role in various brain processes, including drug addiction. The induction and persistence of drug-induced behavior and molecular changes can be explained by drug-induced epigenetic mechanisms. This study investigated the epigenetic regulation during aversive memory retrieval and extinction in opiate withdrawal, revealing the involvement of histone acetylation and p-Brd4 in these processes.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Antonin Fourcade, Timo Torsten Schmidt, Till Nierhaus, Felix Blankenburg
Summary: This study used virtual reality and fMRI to investigate the impact of threat on self-attribution of artificial body parts and found that the amygdala plays a crucial role in the processing of threat enhancement.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pablo Budriesi, Ramiro Tintorelli, Julieta Correa, Maria Eugenia Villar, Paul Marchal, Martin Giurfa, Haydee Viola
Summary: Long-term memory (LTM) can be induced by repeated spaced training trials. Two identical weak inhibitory avoidance (wIA) sessions spaced by 15 min to 6 h can induce a 24-h LTM, which depends on hippocampal protein synthesis and the activity of several kinases. The results support the behavioral tagging (BT) hypothesis, suggesting that the two training sessions induce transient learning tags and promote the synthesis of plasticity-related proteins (PRPs).
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tommaso Fedele, Ece Boran, Valerii Chirkov, Peter Hilfiker, Thomas Grunwald, Lennart Stieglitz, Hennric Jokeit, Johannes Sarnthein
Summary: The study presents an electrophysiological dataset from the amygdalae of nine patients with epilepsy who underwent invasive monitoring, while being subjected to visual dynamic stimulation of emotional aversive content. The dataset includes iEEG recordings, neuronal spike times and waveforms, allowing for investigation of amygdalar responses at multiple spatial scales in the human brain.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Pedro Fonseca Zuccolo, Maria Helena Leite Hunziker
Summary: The return of fear can be prevented through post-retrieval extinction (PRE), but circumstances may exist where PRE is not effective. This study explored how rehearsing the experimental contingencies during the interval between the retrieval cue and extinction training could impact fear extinction outcomes in healthy human participants. The findings suggest that participant behavior during this interval may influence the effectiveness of PRE, though further research is needed to confirm these results.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ana Leon-Rodriguez, Maria del Mar Fernandez-Arjona, Jesus M. Grondona, Carmen Pedraza, Maria D. Lopez-avalos
Summary: Medium- and long-term behavioral disturbances are associated with anxiety-like behavior after acute neuroinflammation, which could be explained by concurrent microgliosis in the amygdala. However, this behavior disappears after 10 weeks.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Jacint Sala-Padro, Ariadna Gifreu-Fraixino, Julia Miro, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Immaculada Rico, Gerard Plans, Mila Santurino, Merce Falip, Estela Camara
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pre-operative resting-state connectivity along the long hippocampal axis and verbal learning decline after anterior temporal lobe resection. Results showed significant differences in the pattern of hippocampal connectivity among the groups.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jennifer Grau-Sanchez, Kevin Jamey, Evangelos Paraskevopoulos, Simone Dalla Bella, Christian Gold, Gottfried Schlaug, Sylvie Belleville, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Madeleine E. Hackney, Teppo Sarkamo
Summary: Major advances in music neuroscience have sparked interest in music-based neurological rehabilitation, but the overall quality of research in this field needs improvement. Experts in this consensus article address methodological challenges and provide guidance on the importance of frameworks and methodological rigor in music-based rehabilitation research.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Alba Gomez-Andres, Toni Cunillera, Imma Rico, Pablo Naval-Baudin, Angels Camins, Alejandro Fernandez-Coello, Andreu Gabarros, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
Summary: Becoming aware of one's own states is crucial for self-monitoring, and the anterior insular cortex (aIC) plays a key role in evaluating the consequences of our actions and monitoring our performance. This study used electrical stimulation mapping and functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the functional role of the aIC in self-monitoring during awake brain surgery, providing direct evidence of its involvement in monitoring performance and potential impact on action/outcome processing. Assessing the functioning of the aIC is important for tumor resection involving this region and for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ernest Mas-Herrero, Laura Ferreri, Gemma Cardona, Robert J. Zatorre, Francesc Pla-Junca, Rosa Maria Antonijoan, Jordi Riba, Marta Valle, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
Summary: Studies in rodents show that the opioid circuit plays an important role in mediating objective hedonic reactions to basic rewards. However, it is still unclear whether opioid transmission is crucial for experiencing pleasure with more abstract rewards, such as music. This study used a double-blind within-subject pharmacological design and found that while opioid levels did not affect subjective pleasure or chills, they bidirectionally modulated objective emotional arousal measures during reward consumption.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Marcelo L. Berthier, Lisa Edelkraut, Francisco J. Lopez-Gonzalez, Diana Lopez-Barroso, Bettina Mohr, Friedemann Pulvermuller, Sergio E. Starkstein, Ricardo E. Jorge, Maria Jose Torres-Prioris, Guadalupe Davila
Summary: This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a 10-week intervention trial using Donepezil alone and combined with ILAT for apathy and depression in chronic post-stroke aphasia patients. The intervention was found to be feasible and had significant treatment effects. Donepezil alone and Donepezil-ILAT reduced aphasia severity, while only Donepezil-ILAT improved apathy and depression. Neuroimaging data provided hints for future research. Further studies with larger sample sizes and placebo-controls are recommended.
BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Ane Gurtubay-Antolin, Ricardo Bruna, Olivier Collignon, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
Summary: The study found that alpha oscillations in the posterior brain are reduced in early blindness, indicating a relationship between posterior alpha and visual experience. Additionally, the study also found that alpha oscillations are also related to tactile expectancy in blind individuals. These findings reveal the relationship between tactile expectancy and posterior alpha oscillations in blind individuals.
Correction
Linguistics
Patricia Leon-Cabrera, Antoni Guillamon, David Cucurell, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
JOURNAL OF NEUROLINGUISTICS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Stefan Elmer, Mireille Besson, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Nathalie Giroud
Summary: Learning new words in an unfamiliar language involves the coordination of perceptual and cognitive functions. Resting-state metrics have the potential to predict foreign word discrimination and learning success. This study used EEG to examine power spectra, spectral density maps, and functional connectivity metrics before, during, and after word learning tasks. Results showed that RS networks were reconfigured in relation to foreign word discrimination and learning, and these changes were observed at multiple functional scales.
Article
Psychiatry
Maria Flores-Lopez, Nuria Garcia-Marchena, Francisco J. Pavon-Moron, Nerea Requena-Ocana, Laura Sanchez-Marin, Laura Martin-Chaves, Monica Garcia-Medina, Carmen Pedraza, Estela Castilla-Ortega, Juan J. Ruiz, Fernando Rodriguez de Fonseca, Pedro Araos, Antonia Serrano
Summary: We conducted a study to explore the potential role of the LPA signaling system as a biomarker in cocaine use disorders (CUD). The study found that patients with CUD had lower plasma concentrations of LPA species and higher mRNA expression of LPA(1) receptor compared to healthy controls. Additionally, a positive association was found between plasma concentration of 20:4-LPA and CUD-related variables. The study also revealed sex differences in LPA concentrations and alterations in rats treated with cocaine, indicating the impact of CUD and sex on LPA signaling.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anna Martinez-Alvarez, Judit Gervain, Elena Koulaguina, Ferran Pons, Ruth de Diego-Balaguer
Summary: In language, the brain needs both statistical and perceptual cues, specifically prosodic cues, to learn nonadjacent dependencies. Early sensitivity to these dependencies is present, but robust and reliable learning can only occur when both cues are present. This study contributes to our understanding of the neural foundations of rule learning in language acquisition.
Article
Psychology
Anna Gasa-Roque, Adria Rofes, Marta Simo, Montserrat Juncadella, Imma Rico Pons, Angels Camins, Andreu Gabarros, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Joanna Sierpowska
Summary: This study investigates the neuropsychological and language evaluation in patients with glioma, and finds that analysis of naming errors can indicate semantic and phonological impairments. Additionally, the study reveals that individual patients have improved or remained stable in language and cognition, despite a decline at the group level. Furthermore, patients with low-grade glioma have better outcomes after surgery compared to high-grade glioma patients, likely due to brain plasticity mechanisms. The study emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive assessment and analysis for better postoperative outcomes.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Andrea Nieto-Quero, Maria Inmaculada Infantes-Lopez, Emma Zambrana-Infantes, Patricia Chaves-Pena, Ana L. Gavito, Jose Munoz-Martin, Sara Tabbai, Javier Marquez, Fernando Rodriguez de Fonseca, Maria Inmaculada Garcia-Fernandez, Luis J. Santin, Carmen Pedraza, Margarita Perez-Martin
Summary: Intense stress, especially traumatic stress, can lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a heterogeneous disorder. The neurobiological mechanisms of PTSD remain poorly understood, but studying early stress responses through proteomics may provide insights into its development and potential preventive treatments. This study showed that exposure to acute and intense stress led to behavioral symptoms and changes in the hippocampal proteomic profile, suggesting that targeting neuroplasticity and inflammation may be a therapeutic approach for PTSD.
Article
Education & Educational Research
Peter Vavra, Leo Sokolovic, Emanuele Porcu, Pablo Ripolles, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells, Toemme Noesselt
Summary: Incentives can decrease performance by undermining intrinsic motivation. How the interplay of external reinforcers and internal self-regulation influences memory processes is less known. This study investigated their interaction on memory performance in learning new-word meanings, and found that external reinforcers can selectively impair memories depending on what is being learned and whether internal self-regulated processes are already established.
NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Javiera P. Oyarzun, Thomas M. Kuntz, Yoann Stussi, Olivia T. Karaman, Sophia Vranos, Bridget L. Callaghan, Curtis Huttenhower, Joseph E. LeDoux, Elizabeth A. Phelps
Summary: The gut microbiota is associated with individual variability in threat learning, but not extinction learning.