 Memory Beyond Expression

A. DELORENZI

Santiago

Conferencia; I Simposio Anual de Memoria y Ansiedad; 2014

Universidad Andrés Bello

The reconsolidation hypothesis has challenged the traditional view of consolidation, including the notion that consolidated memories are fixed and established. In this talk I will discuss our reconsolidation?s studies that support the idea that there is dissociation between the mechanisms mediating memory reactivation and that underling the behavioral expression of memory. Although the absence of memory expression is largely insufficient to imply that memory traces are lost, our studies support the view that memory expression is not a requirement for long-term memories to be reactivated and labilized. Memory expression is not a boundary condition for reconsolidation: memory expression is indeed unnecessary for reconsolidation in crab and human. Our exceptional teacher and friend H. Maldonado and group elegantly showed that mismatch between what is expected and what actually occurs is a necessary condition to trigger memory reconsolidation. Key results of our studies show th at even when memory expression does not take place, evaluation of mismatch conditions is a requirement for memory labilization both in crabs and humans. Moreover, in a recent study in crabs we show that even though expression can be disrupted by glutamate receptors antagonists at retrieval sessions, memory can undergo the reconsolidation process. So, retrieval and memory expression therefore appear not to be interchangeable concepts. Expression is just one of the possible fates of a reactivated memory.