A highly demanding working memory task reduces the reconsolidation of a threat memory and its biases processing towards threat.

PICCO SOLEDAD; RODRIGO FERNANDEZ; MARIA EUGENIA PEDREIRA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; CONGRESO SAN2020; 2020

SAN

Consolidated memories can be reactivated into a labile state by the presentation of areminder. The reactivation of the memory trace is followed by a process of re-stabilizationknown as reconsolidation. In most of reconsolidation studies, a second task, with similarcharacteristics to those of the target memory, is used as an amnesic agent.Anxiety manifest as a persistent and generalized defensive system, activated whenpredicted aversive events are perceived as a threat and uncertain. In laboratory, threatconditioning has been taken as the paradigm for assessing fear memories and anxietyrelated disorders. In the framework of the reconsolidation the idea that this process wouldallow to modify this type of maladaptive memories has been proposed.Here we aim to interfere the re-stabilization of an implicit aversive memory using a highdemanding working memory task, which aimed to overload this transient memory system.To reach such goal, we designed a 3 day protocol, and compared a trained threatconditioning group, that 24hs later had or not a reminder, or a fake working memory task;48hs after, all 3 groups performed an extinction follow by a reinstatement and several taskstargeting cognitive bias towards threat. We revealed that the memory reconsolidationinterference is effective for the implicit. Moreover, we found a correlation betweensubjects? working memory task performance and threat memory retention. Finally, weshowed how the interference reduced biased processing towards threat.