Can a future event change the pass? An fMRI study

Abstract

A large number of studies reveal that emotionally significant events are retained better than neutral events. A topic of interest is the retroactive effect of new emotional experiences on previous related memories. Usi ng fMRI, the aim of this study is to investigate the brain areas involved in the memory of: a) stimuli that were associated to a secondary negative reinforcer (i.e. , a monetary - social punishment), and b) categorically related - stimuli presented before the punishment but never associated with negative reinforcer. To do this , participants performed an adapted task of that used in Dunsmoor et al. (2015), in which sh owed retroactive memory enhacement for items categorically related to punished stimulus. The task consisted on a recognition test of items associated with punishment, items were associated categorical ly with punished items but neither assoc i a ted with punis hment and neutral items. This test was performed 24h after conditioning. Our b ehavioral results showed better memory for the punished ca tegory in the conditioning, but worse memory for the items belonging to the punished category in the pre - conditioning. N euroimaging results showed a different pattern of brain processing for both kinds of items. Punished stimlui showed activation putamen, ventral anterior cingulate, supplementary motor area, hippocampus, and frotal gyrus for memory were of the stimuli that were punished with secondary reinforcer (a monetary - social punishment). However, brain areas involved in the processing of related - stimuli were the amygdala, thalamus, and orbitofrontal cortex. These results appears to support the idea that initially weak memories can be strengthened if this information later gains meaning.