title: Propranolol selectively blocks the enhanced parietal old/new effect during long-term recollection of unpleasant pictures: a high density ERP study.
abstract: Evidence from both animal and human research suggests that the formation of emotional memories is triggered by the beta-adrenergic system. To confirm whether modulation of central beta-adrenergic transmission is specifically involved in the neural signature of memory performance, the pre-encoding effect of propranolol (80 mg) on event-related potentials (ERPs) was measured in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group study in 46 male healthy subjects using high density EEG and source imaging analysis during encoding and retrieval (after 1 week) of IAPS pictures of unpleasant, neutral and pleasant contents; for recognition 90 old pictures were randomly mixed with 90 new pictures. During retrieval correctly remembered old pictures elicited a significantly larger positive voltage change over the centro-parietal cortex than new pictures. Propranolol significantly reduced this old/new difference of the mean ERP amplitudes (500-800 ms) for unpleasant but not for neutral and pleasant memories. This effect correlated with salivary alpha-amylase activity, a surrogate for central adrenergic stimulation. In conclusion, propranolol selectively blocked the neural signature of unpleasant memories by mechanisms in which the parietal cortex seems to be specifically involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Greifswald, Franz-Mehring-Strasse 47, 17487 Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weymar
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Löw
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Modess
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gründling
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petersmann
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Siegmund
authors.forename: Alfons O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Hamm
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000201:enzymology; D055815:Young Adult; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000032:analysis / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D011433:Propranolol; D000516:alpha-Amylases