Emotion and memory

Emotion can have a powerful effect on humans and animals. Numerous studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories tend to be of emotional events, which are likely to be recalled more often and with more clarity and detail than neutral events. The activity of emotionally enhanced memory retention can be linked to human evolution; during early development, responsive behavior to environmental events would have progressed as a process of trial and error. Survival depended on behavioral patterns that were repeated or reinforced through life and death situations. Through evolution, this process of learning became genetically embedded in humans and all animal species in what is known as flight or fight instinct. Artificially inducing this instinct through traumatic physical or emotional stimuli essentially creates the same physiological condition that heightens memory retention by exciting neuro-chemical activity affecting areas of the brain responsible for encoding and recalling memory. This memory-enhancing effect of emotion has been demonstrated in many laboratory studies, using stimuli ranging from words to pictures to narrated slide shows, as well as autobiographical memory studies. However, as described below, emotion does not always enhance memory. One of the most common frameworks in the emotions field proposes that affective experiences are best characterized by two main dimensions: arousal and valence. The dimension of valence ranges from highly positive to highly negative, whereas the dimension of arousal ranges from calming or soothing to exciting or agitating. The majority of studies to date have focused on the arousal dimension of emotion as the critical factor contributing to the emotional enhancement effect on memory. Different explanations have been offered for this effect, according to the different stages of memory formation and reconstruction. Memory has been shown to be better with arousal linked with emotion then without emotion.

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Target cell-type specificity of a cortico-amygdala long range synaptic connection

Ayah Khubieh

An important function of the brain is to analyze sensory information, and to modulate animal behaviour according to previous experience. During processes of emotional learning, sensory percepts with a reinforcing quality, also called unconditioned stimuli (US), influence the quality of innocuous sensory stimuli. A brain structure involved in the integration of innocuous and reinforcing sensory stimuli is the lateral amygdala (LA), an input station to further amygdalar circuits. Little is known about which upstream brain regions convey US-information to the LA; however, evidence indicates that the posterior insular cortex, which processes nociceptive somatosensory information, might be a candidate. The LA microcircuit is composed of principal neurons and inhibitory interneurons; the latter play a prominent role in the control of local activity and plasticity. To investigate how the posterior insular cortex might recruit LA neurons, we used optogenetically-assisted circuit mapping in combination with genetic identification of cell types with Cre-mouse lines. Specifically, a VGluT2-Cre mouse line, producing a marker for excitatory neurons, and VIP-Cre and SOM-Cre mice as markers for two classes of inhibitory interneurons, were used. We found that VGluT2-Cre+ neurons received strong excitatory and feedforward inhibitory inputs from the posterior insular cortex. The excitatory input was sufficient to induce action potential firing, hence engaging the local circuit. VIP-Cre+ interneurons were moderately excited by posterior insular cortex input, and received strong feedforward inhibition. Both VIP-Cre+ and SOM-Cre+ interneurons also received feedforward, polysynaptic excitation, likely the result of the activity of local principal neurons. Finally, SOM-Cre+ interneurons received moderate excitatory and feedforward inhibitory input from the posterior insular cortex, and their connectivity probability was high. This study supports the notion that the posterior insular cortex can convey US-information to the LA, with the potential to strongly activate LA principal neurons. However, it suggests that a disinhibition of LA principal neurons through VIP interneurons, which has been observed in previous studies, might be shaped by additional afferents, possibly including neuromodulatory inputs. Through systematic recordings of input connections to defined neuron types in the LA, this study provides an entry point to the understanding of the synaptic connectivity rules that govern the activation of amygdalar circuits by incoming long-range cortical inputs.

EPFL2021

The mysteries of remote memory

Johannes Gräff, Zimbul Albo

Long-lasting memories form the basis of our identity as individuals and lie central in shaping future behaviours that guide survival. Surprisingly, however, our current knowledge of how such memories are stored in the brain and retrieved, as well as the dynamics of the circuits involved, remains scarce despite seminal technical and experimental breakthroughs in recent years. Traditionally, it has been proposed that, over time, information initially learnt in the hippocampus is stored in distributed cortical networks. This process—the standard theory of memory consolidation—would stabilize the newly encoded information into a lasting memory, become independent of the hippocampus, and remain essentially unmodifiable throughout the lifetime of the individual. In recent years, several pieces of evidence have started to challenge this view and indicate that long-lasting memories might already ab ovo be encoded, and subsequently stored in distributed cortical networks, akin to the multiple trace theory of memory consolidation. In this review, we summarize these recent findings and attempt to identify the biologically plausible mechanisms based on which a contextual memory becomes remote by integrating different levels of analysis: from neural circuits to cell ensembles across synaptic remodelling and epigenetic modifications. From these studies, remote memory formation and maintenance appear to occur through a multi-trace, dynamic and integrative cellular process ranging from the synapse to the nucleus, and represent an exciting field of research primed to change quickly as new experimental evidence emerges.

2018

Embodied memory: unconscious smiling modulates emotional evaluation of episodic memories

Pierre Magistretti, Delphine Preissmann, Mathieu Arminjon

Since Damasio introduced the somatic markers hypothesis in Damasio (1994), it has spread through the psychological community, where it is now commonly acknowledged that somatic states are a factor in producing the qualitative dimension of our experiences. Present actions are emotionally guided by those somatic states that were previously activated in similar experiences. In this model, somatic markers serve as a kind of embodied memory. Here, we test whether the manipulation of somatic markers can modulate the emotional evaluation of negative memories. Because facial feedback has been shown to be a powerful means of modifying emotional judgements, we used it to manipulate somatic markers. Participants first read a sad story in order to induce a negative emotional memory and then were asked to rate their emotions and memory about the text. Twenty-four hours later, the same participants were asked to assume a predetermined facial feedback (smiling) while reactivating their memory of the sad story. The participants were once again asked to fill in emotional and memory questionnaires about the text. Our results showed that participants who had smiled during memory reactivation later rated the text less negatively than control participants. However, the contraction of the zygomaticus muscles during memory reactivation did not have any impact on episodic memory scores. This suggests that manipulating somatic states modified emotional memory without affecting episodic memory. Thus, modulating memories through bodily states might pave the way to studying memory as an embodied function and help shape new kinds of psychotherapeutic interventions.

Frontiers Research Foundation2015

Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, relationships, or personal identity to develop. Memory loss is usually described as forgetfulness or amnesia. Memory is often understood as an informational processing system with explicit and implicit functioning that is made up of a sensory processor, short-term (or working) memory, and long-term memory.

A flashbulb memory is a vivid, long-lasting memory about a surprising or shocking event that has happened in the past. The term "flashbulb memory" suggests the surprise, indiscriminate illumination, detail, and brevity of a photograph; however, flashbulb memories are only somewhat indiscriminate and are far from complete. Evidence has shown that although people are highly confident in their memories, the details of the memories can be forgotten. Flashbulb memories are one type of autobiographical memory.

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