Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:46:15.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reconsolidation versus retrieval competition: Rival hypotheses to explain memory change in psychotherapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Chris R. Brewin*
Affiliation:
Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. [email protected]

Abstract

I suggest it is premature to assume memory reconsolidation provides a unifying model of psychotherapeutic change given our current state of knowledge, and that other basic memory mechanisms, also supported by neuroscience, have a stronger claim at present. In particular, I propose that retrieval competition provides a more plausible alternative to memory reconsolidation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberini, C. M., Johnson, S. A. & Ye, X. (2013) Memory reconsolidation: Lingering consolidation and the dynamic memory trace. In: Memory reconsolidation, ed. Alberini, C. M., pp. 81117. Academic.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewin, C. R. (1989) Cognitive change processes in psychotherapy. Psychological Review 96:379–94. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.96.3.379.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. (2006) Understanding cognitive-behaviour therapy: A retrieval competition account. Behaviour Research and Therapy 44:765–84. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2006.02.005.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. (2014) Perceptual memory, episodic memory and their interaction: Foundations for a theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Bulletin 140:6997. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0033722.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. & Andrews, B. (submitted) A new mythology? Reconstructive aspects of memory and their relevance for the courtroom.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J., Lipton, M. & Burgess, N. (2010) Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review 117:210–32. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0018113 Google Scholar
Brunet, A., Poundja, J., Tremblay, J., Bui, E., Thomas, E., Orr, S. P. Azzoug, A, , Birmes, P & Pitman, R. K. (2011) Trauma reactivation under the influence of propranolol decreases posttraumatic stress symptoms and disorder: 3 open-label trials. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 31:547–50. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1097/JCP.0b013e318222f360.Google Scholar
Chan, J. C. & LaPaglia, J. A. (2013) Impairing existing declarative memory in humans by disrupting reconsolidation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 110(23):9309–13. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218472110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kesner, R. P. & Rogers, J. (2004) An analysis of independence and interactions of brain substrates that subserve multiple attributes, memory systems, and underlying processes. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 82:199215. Available at: http:doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2004.05.007.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroes, M. C. W., Tendolkar, I., van Wingen, G. A., van Waarde, J. A., Strange, B. A. & Fernandez, G. (2014) An electroconvulsive therapy procedure impairs reconsolidation of episodic memories in humans. Nature Neuroscience 17:204206. Available at: http:doi.org/10.1038/nn.3609 Google Scholar
March, J., Silva, S., Petrycki, S., Curry, J., Wells, K., Fairbank, J., Burns, B., Domino, M. & McNulty, S. (2004) Fluoxetine, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and their combination for adolescents with depression: Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 292(7):807–20. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.7.807 Google ScholarPubMed
Poldrack, R. A. & Packard, M. G. (2003) Competition among multiple memory systems: Converging evidence from animal and human brain studies. Neuropsychologia 41:245–51. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00157-4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soeter, M. & Kindt, M. (2013) High trait anxiety: A challenge for disrupting fear memory reconsolidation. PLOS ONE 8(11):e75239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Apeldoorn, F. J., van Hout, W. J., Mersch, P. P., Huisman, M., Slaap, B. R., Hale, W. W., Visser, S., van Dyck, R. & den Boer, J. A. (2008) Is a combined therapy more effective than either CBT or SSRI alone? Results of a multicenter trial on panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 117:260–70. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2008.01157.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed