Primary Sensory Cortex In Human Memory Reconsolidation

人类记忆再巩固中的初级感觉皮层

• 批准号: BB/W014408/1
• 负责人: Dominik Bach
• 金额: $ 119.85万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FW014408%2F1
• 关键词: Primary; Sensory; Cortex; Human; Memory

Learning from past experience is fundamental for many animals including humans. This ability allows us to flexibly adapt to ever-changing environments. Learning requires storing completely novel information, as well as integrating new information into existing memory. The latter function demands memory flexibility. Re-consolidation has been proposed as the biological mechanism by which such flexibility is achieved.Recent research has provided us with great detail on the molecular and cellular pathways underlying memory re-consolidation in specific brain areas. However, memory often relies on an interplay of different brain regions. This is particularly the case in humans. The contribution of these different brain regions to re-consolidation remains incompletely understood. This impairs our theoretical understanding of this process in humans, and a clinical application. Memory interventions - whether experimental or therapeutic - cannot be targeted to specific brain regions without precise knowledge on their contribution.The proposed project will deliver on these shortcomings by using non-invasive brain stimulation. Our previous work has shown that interfering with one part of the brain that contributes to registering touch (somatosensory cortex) impairs remembering - but not learning - that touch predicts an aversive event. In the proposed experiments, our participants will learn that certain touch-like stimulation predicts an aversive event. We will later remind people of this association and then interfere with somatosensory cortex to create a temporary processing deficit in this region. This will allow us to investigate whether this region is crucially required for the spontaneous re-consolidation process that ensues after the memory has been recalled. If this is the case, then this will crucially inform theories of systems-level memory flexibility. It also has a potential to be further developed into a clinical application.Because we will be using a large sample (N = 350), carefully designed control groups, and state-of-the-art technology, a negative result will be equally informative and is likely to allow conclusions about systems-level differences between consolidation and re-consolidation processes, thus complementing previous research on the molecular similarities and differences between these processes.

从过去的经验中学习对包括人类在内的许多动物来说都是至关重要的。这种能力使我们能够灵活地适应不断变化的环境。学习需要储存全新的信息，并将新信息整合到现有的记忆中。后一个功能需要内存灵活性。重新巩固被认为是实现这种灵活性的生物学机制。最近的研究为我们提供了在特定大脑区域记忆重新巩固的分子和细胞途径的详细信息。然而，记忆往往依赖于不同大脑区域的相互作用。这在人类中尤其如此。这些不同的大脑区域对再巩固的贡献仍然不完全清楚。这削弱了我们对人类这一过程的理论理解和临床应用。记忆干预——无论是实验性的还是治疗性的——如果不准确地了解它们的作用，就不能针对特定的大脑区域。拟议的项目将通过使用非侵入性脑刺激来弥补这些缺点。我们之前的研究表明，干扰大脑中负责记录触觉的部分（体感皮层）会损害记忆——但不会影响学习——触觉预示厌恶事件。在拟议的实验中，我们的参与者将了解到某些类似触摸的刺激预示着厌恶事件。我们稍后会提醒人们这种联系，然后干扰体感皮层，在这个区域造成暂时的处理缺陷。这将使我们能够研究这个区域是否对记忆被回忆后发生的自发再巩固过程至关重要。如果是这样的话，那么这将为系统级内存灵活性的理论提供重要的信息。同时也具有进一步发展为临床应用的潜力。由于我们将使用大样本（N = 350），精心设计的对照组和最先进的技术，阴性结果将同样具有信息性，并可能得出关于巩固和再巩固过程之间系统级差异的结论，从而补充了先前关于这些过程之间分子相似性和差异性的研究。