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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe The classic finding in support of reconsolidation is that, in some cases, a protein synthesis inhibitor given at or just after memory
retrieval can cause subsequent loss of a previously stable memory. Presumably, the retrieved memory cannot be reconsolidated without protein synthesis. However, in other cases, a protein
synthesis inhibitor can instead prevent extinction of a memory (which usually develops when a conditioned stimulus is presented without its associated unconditioned stimulus), so that the
original memory persists when it would normally fade. Extinction is considered by many to be a process of learning, in which one memory trace replaces another, rather than simply loss of the
conditioned memory, and it is this learning that is presumably prevented by the protein synthesis inhibitor. Eisenberg _et al_. used two behavioural tests to investigate this apparent
contradiction. In conditioned taste aversion in rats, a single training trial in which a taste is paired with administration of an agent that causes nausea is enough to cause aversion to the
conditioned taste. Subsequent exposures to the taste without the nausea produce extinction, so that the aversion is lost — unless a protein synthesis inhibitor such as anisomycin is
administered. However, if the animals are trained repeatedly on the aversion experiment, rather than just once, it takes many retrieval trials to produce extinction. In this case, the
authors discovered that treatment with anisomycin during retrieval causes more rapid loss of the original association, rather than impairing extinction. This is a preview of subscription
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ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER * Eisenberg, M. et al. Stability of retrieved
memory: inverse correlation with trace dominance. _Science_ 301, 1102–1104 (2003) Article CAS Google Scholar FURTHER READING * Nadel, L. & Land, C. Memory traces revisited. _Nature
Rev. Neurosci._ 1, 209–212 (2000) Article CAS Google Scholar * Millin, P. M. et al. Interpretations of retrograde amnesia: old problems redux. _Nature Rev. Neurosci._ 2, 68–70 (2001)
Article CAS Google Scholar Download references Authors * Rachel Jones View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints
and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Jones, R. Consolidating reconsolidation?. _Nat Rev Neurosci_ 4, 774–775 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1240 Download citation * Issue
Date: 01 October 2003 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1240 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a
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