Primary Sensory Cortex In Human Memory Reconsolidation

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，以及将新信息整合到现有的记忆中。后一种功能需要内存的灵活性。最近的研究为我们提供了关于特定脑区记忆再巩固的分子和细胞途径的详细信息。然而，记忆通常依赖于不同大脑区域的相互作用。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，以及临床应用。记忆干预--无论是实验性的还是治疗性的--在没有精确了解其作用的情况下都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。我们之前的研究已经表明，干扰大脑中负责记录触摸的部分（体感皮层）会损害记忆--但不会损害学习--触摸预示着一个令人厌恶的事件。在拟议的实验中，我们的参与者将了解到某些触摸式刺激预测了一个令人厌恶的事件。我们稍后会提醒人们注意这种联系，然后干扰躯体感觉皮层，在这个区域创造一个暂时的处理缺陷。这将使我们能够调查这个区域是否是至关重要的自发重新巩固过程中所必需的记忆被召回后。如果是这样的话，那么这将为系统级记忆灵活性理论提供重要信息。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，因此阴性结果同样具有信息性，并且可能得出关于巩固和再巩固过程之间系统水平差异的结论，从而补充了以前对这些过程之间的分子相似性和差异的研究。

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.