A joint study of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), in Spain, and that of the Ruhr, in Germany, managed to describe, for the first time, the brain signals associated with the oblivion of unpleasant memories in humans.
In a statement, the UAB explained that forgetting memories related to the response to fear, after unpleasant experiences, “is very important” for the adaptation of people, since “allows to inhibit answers that could lead to psychiatric problems”, such as anxiety or depression.
The research team used a technique that provides information on how brain regions represent information to study the characteristics of human memory.
The study had 49 patients with epilepsy who had already implanted electrodes in the brain area linked to the extinction of memories of fear.
“They were shown different neutral images -such as a hair dryer or a toaster -some of which were associated with an unpleasant stimulus -like a sound -while brain activity was recorded,” says the note.
Later, the process was repeated, “but without associating the images with the unpleasant stimulus”, with the objective that the unpleasant memory was extinguished.
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The study results show that “the extinction of memories of fear depends, to a large extent, on the context in which it occurs”: its recovery is more likely that that of security memories when representations of extinction contexts are more “pronounced and specific.”
“It seems that extinction memories are stored as memories of unique episodes: for the patient, the safe situation can be considered as an exception that is unlikely to be repeated,” adds the statement.
With the study of the UAB and the University of the Ruhr, the specific theories for the most recent human brain in this area are confirmed, which propose that the memories of fear are eliminated with new remembrances that “suppress the initial response” to fear.
“These pioneering results (…) could inspire the development of more effective therapeutic interventions in patients with post -traumatic stress or anxiety disorders,” concludes the note.
With EFE information
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