New Study Reveals How Forgotten Memories Can Be Recovered and Updated

Apparently “forgotten” memories are not actually lost, they can be recovered and updated through clues from the environment, according to a study published in Cell Reports . These are the first experimental results to suggest that forgetting information could be a way of learning. Because the new results suggest that naturally occurring forgetting is a reversible process, they could form the basis of a new approach in diseases where memory is impaired, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The main conclusions:

Competition between groups of neurons affects the retrieval of memories, but they can be reactivated by both natural and artificial cues in the environment, as well as supplemented with new information. Some memories will be permanently stored in their original form, while others will undergo a process of interference with new information that takes precedence depending on the context.

Forgetting is not a defect, but a functional characteristic of the brain that allows it to flexibly interact with its dynamic environment and make better, context-adapted decisions. If memories are formed under circumstances that are not necessarily relevant to the current environment, forgetting them is a positive change that promotes adaptability.

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Memories are stored in groups of neurons (engram cells), and accessing memories requires the specific activity of these neuronal assemblies. So, forgetting could be determined by the lack of ability to reactivate the groups of neurons responsible for keeping a certain memory. The new results show that the specific memories are still stored at the level of these engram cells, and the way to recover them is by reactivating them.

In the study, a type of forgetting called retroactive interference was investigated, which involves the loss of recently formed memories due to various experiences occurring in close time intervals. The study was conducted on laboratory mice, which were initially taught to associate a specific object with a specific context or room, and were then able to recognize its location under different circumstances than the original ones. The rodents forgot these associations, however, when other experiences interfered with the formation of memories related to the object’s context.

The brain cells that store a particular memory were marked and their activity and function was followed after the process of forgetting had taken place. With the help of optogenetics, it was found that light stimulation of that group of cells allowed the memory stored at that level to be retrieved and used. Also, exposure to new experiences that are related to forgotten memories allows them to be retrieved naturally.

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2023-11-03 08:15:01
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