Memory retrieval and its lasting consequences.
Many, if not all psychiatric diseases are accompanied by memory disturbances, in particular, the dementias, schizophrenia, and, to an extent, mood disorders. Anxiety and stress, on the other hand, cause important alterations of memory, particularly its retrieval. Here we discuss several new findings on the basic mechanisms of consolidation, retrieval and extinction of a prototype form of episodic memory in the rat: conditioned fear. The findings point the way for investigations on the pathology of these aspects of memory in health and disease. Emphasis is placed on the parallel processing of retrieval in several cortical areas, on the links between retrieval and the onset of extinction, on the fact that extinction involves new learning requiring gene expression, and on the differences between the retrieval of recent or remote long-term memories.
Izquierdo
Iván
I
Departamento de Bioquímica, Centro de Memoria, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
Vianna
Mónica R.M.
MR
Izquierdo
Luciana A.
LA
Barros
Daniela M.
DM
Szapiro
Germán
G
Coitinho
Adriana S.
AS
Muller
Lionel
L
Cammarota
Martín
M
Bevilaqua
Lia R.M.
LR
Medina
Jorge H.
JH