Elsey & Kindt

16 important questions on Elsey & Kindt

The past century has seen radical shifts in the way we conceptualize and treat mental disorders. What has been a recent shift?

A recent shift has led the scientific public to ask why a certain therapeutic approach works instead of just describing which one works
understanding mechanisms of change in treatment and neural underpinnings of the disorder are crucial if we want to optimize treatments

What is a key feature in a lot of mental disorders (from PTSD to addiction)

Maladaptive emotional memories

What is difficult in studying maladaptive emotional memories

If maladaptive memories in clinical conditions are susceptible to disruptions, this could be a great step forward in treatment. This is difficult because of small sample sized and did not always control for alternatie explanations.

Certain changes in preparation of participants and the specificies of what occurs in the reactivation session can affect treatment outcomes in unpredictable ways, so deeper understanding of what happens after administering propranolol after frightening experience is needed.
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What is one hypothesis about reconsolidation about

That it may allow memories to be updated, retaining their relevance and usefulness in changing environment. Reconsolidation would be induced by memory reactivations that indicate the need to update the memory

Why are our tools for understanding prediction error and the destabilization of maladaptice memories not optimal

Because they are internal events but we often infer them based on external characteristics > subjective reports

What happens when prediction error occurs

The length of reactivation or extent of prediction error can determine whether reconsolidation or extinction is the result

What do several findings indicate about longer memory reactivations

That longer memory reactivations are likely to lead to extinction, whereas brief reactivation is more likely to trigger reconsolidation

Other studies demonstrate that the induction of reconsolidation is a balancing act. What do they mean with this

Without prediction error, memory is not labialized and made vulnerable to amnestic agents, but with extended reactivation and multiple prediction errors, destabilization does not take place and extinction may even occur instead.

Some research on reconsolidation has proposed that older or stronger memories may prove invulnerable to disruption. How do studies see this now

It now seems that even old and strong memories can be made more susceptible to destabilization if new information is provided.

What is hard in clinical practice

Not always easy to establish what type of stimulus would be most reflective of a patient's core fear. Also most research does not consider the subjective experience of the changes after reconsolidation

Criteria for the demonstration of reconsolidation derived from animal studies that we suggest can be meaningfully applied to human research are

1) the presence of an interaction between memory reactivation and the experimental manipulation

2) time dependent effects of the manipulation

3)memory specificity

4) a dissociation of immediate and delayed effects of the intervention

What is important to maintain between researchers and clinicians

The dialogue and critical and nuanced perspective on the precise mechanisms of treatment is still needed as soon as reconsolidation based procedures are convincingly demonstrated to have therapeutic applications

What do experimental studies in human also show (due to reconsolidation)

It shows that impairments in memory expression following a reconsolidation based procedure are certainly more resistant to later retrieval than extinction induced changes.

It may be worth considering whether reconsolidation based procedures should be supplemented with additional learning experiences to cement improvement in symptoms over the long term. Give an example of this

The generation of a new memory trace that may compete with and or inhibit a maladaptive memory is now a well-established model of extinction

Where can disruption of reconsolidation be used for

To significantly reduce the likelihood of maladaptive memory retrieval directly.

What happens when disruption of reconsolidation is used to reduce likelihood of maladaptive memory retrieval

New inhibitory learning experiences and ways of thinking could be instantiated through supplemental behavioral and cognitive interventions, actively reducing the possibility of relapse

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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