ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2015, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (4): 582-590.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.00582

• Regular Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Temporal Dynamic and Biological Mechanism of Memory Reconsolidation

ZENG Xiangxing; DU Juan; WANG Kaixin; ZHENG Xifu   

  1. (School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China)
  • Received:2014-06-23 Online:2015-04-15 Published:2015-04-15
  • Contact: ZENG Xiangxing, E-mail: zhengxf@scnu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Memories are consolidated through the information encoding process during waking and the re- processing consolidation during sleeping. Memory reconsolidation theory claims that memory consolidation process needs to be repeated for many times. More specifically, it states that consolidated memories transiently return to a labile state upon each retrieval process and must be restabilized to persist further through a reconsolidation process involving new protein synthesis. At this labile state, memories are easily amenable to enhancement or disruption. Memory reconsolidation is also a time-dependent process, it occurs after memory consolidation and persists for about 6 hours, including the protein degradation destabilization phase and the protein synthesis stabilization phase. Re-exposure of the retrieval trial can trigger either memory reconsolidation or extinction, which depends on the duration of retrieval stimulus presentation.

Key words: memory consolidation, memory reconsolidation, temporal dynamic, biological mechanism