Noradrenergic Modulation of Emotion-Induced Forgetting and Remembering

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience 2005-07, Vol.25 (27), p.6343-6349
• Main Authors: Hurlemann, Rene, Hawellek, Barbara, Matusch, Andreas, Kolsch, Heike, Wollersen, Heike, Madea, Burkhard, Vogeley, Kai, Maier, Wolfgang, Dolan, Raymond J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - pharmacology; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - therapeutic use; Adrenergic Uptake Inhibitors - pharmacology; Adrenergic Uptake Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Adult; Amnesia, Anterograde - etiology; Amnesia, Anterograde - physiopathology; Amnesia, Anterograde - prevention & control; Amnesia, Anterograde - psychology; Amnesia, Retrograde - etiology; Amnesia, Retrograde - physiopathology; Amnesia, Retrograde - prevention & control; Amnesia, Retrograde - psychology; Amygdala - drug effects; Amygdala - physiopathology; Arousal - physiology; Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive; Double-Blind Method; Emotions - drug effects; Emotions - physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Memory, Short-Term - drug effects; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Mental Recall - drug effects; Mental Recall - physiology; Morpholines - pharmacology; Morpholines - therapeutic use; Norepinephrine - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Propranolol - pharmacology; Propranolol - therapeutic use; Reboxetine
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0228-05.2005

We used a free-recall paradigm to establish a behavioral index of the retrograde and anterograde interference of emotion with episodic memory encoding. In two experiments involving 78 subjects, we show that negatively valenced items elicit retrograde amnesia, whereas positively valenced items elicit retrograde hypermnesia. These data indicate item valence is critical in determining retrograde amnesia and retrograde hypermnesia. In contrast, we show that item arousal induces an anterograde amnesic effect, consistent with the idea that a valence-evoked arousal mechanism compromises anterograde episodic encoding. Randomized double-blind administration of the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol compared with the selective norepinephrine (NE) reuptake-inhibitor reboxetine, and placebo, demonstrated that the magnitude of this emotional amnesia and hypermnesia can be upregulated and downregulated as a function of emotional arousal and central NE signaling. We conclude that a differential processing of emotional arousal and valence influences how the brain remembers and forgets.