Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Destroying memories to strengthen them

Nature Neuroscience volume 11, pages 1241–1242 (2008)Cite this article

A paper in this issue reports that the core mechanisms that strengthen memories have more in common with the mechanisms that support reconsolidation than those that participate in their initial storage.

Since Herman Ebbinghaus carried out his classic work, psychologists have known that memories are strengthened by the repetition of the new, soon-to-be-learned material. Although neurobiologists have made enormous progress toward a basic understanding of how memories are initially acquired and stored, they have had almost nothing to say about how they are further strengthened by repetition. Perhaps this is because it is natural to assume that memories are strengthened by the same core molecular and cellular mechanisms that participate in their initial storage. If so, then a new study by Lee1 in this issue will come as a surprise to many. The author reports that some of the core mechanisms that strengthen memories have more in common with those that support what is called reconsolidation than they do with those that support initial storage.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Reconsolidation and memory strengthening: procedural and process similarities.

References

  1. Lee, J.L.C. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 1264–1266 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Misanin, J.R., Milller, R.R. & Lewis, D.J. Science 160, 554–558 (1968).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nader, K., Schafe, G.E. & Le Doux, J.E. Nature 406, 722–726 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Nader, K. Trends Neurosci. 26, 65–72 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lee, S.H. et al. Science 319, 1253–1256 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lee, J.L., Everitt, B.J. & Thomas, K.L. Science 304, 839–843 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Suzuki, A. et al. J. Neurosci. 24, 4787–4795 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lopez-Salon, M. et al. Eur. J. Neurosci. 14, 1820–1826 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Artinian, J. et al. Eur. J. Neurosci. 27, 3009–3021 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The author is in the Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, UCB 345, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. Jrudy@psych.colorado.edu,

    Jerry W Rudy

Authors
  1. Jerry W Rudy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rudy, J. Destroying memories to strengthen them. Nat Neurosci 11, 1241–1242 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1108-1241

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1108-1241

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing