title: β-Adrenergic blockade during reactivation reduces the subjective feeling of remembering associated with emotional episodic memories.
abstract: In contrast to neutral events, emotionally arousing events often are remembered vividly and with great detail. Although generally adaptive to survival, this emotional memory enhancement may contribute to psychopathology. Blocking the arousal-related noradrenergic activity with a β blocker shortly after learning prevents the emotional enhancement of memory. In the present experiment, we tested in 48 healthy subjects whether the administration of the β blocker propranolol before the reactivation of already consolidated emotional episodic memories may interfere with their reconsolidation and, thus, reduce the subsequent feeling of remembering associated with these memories. Our results show that propranolol before reactivation abolished the superior memory for emotional relative to neutral stimuli and decreased 'remember' judgments for emotional items, suggesting that β-adrenergic blockade during reactivation made emotional memories comparable to neutral memories.
authors.affiliation: Douglas Mental Health Institute and Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A1, Canada. Lars.Schwabe@rub.de
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schwabe
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nader
authors.forename: Jens C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pruessner
mesh_terms: D018674:Adrenergic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000187:drug effects; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018674:Adrenergic Antagonists; D011433:Propranolol