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, , , & (2000), Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval. Nature, 406: 722-726. This paper introduces the physiological basis for an important novel concept in our understanding of memory consolidation. The finding suggests that the process of retrieving a memory opens it up to the potential for disruption before reconsolidation. Thus, a memory (in this case for fear), which has already been well encoded, can be “erased” when disrupted during retrieval. In this experiment, rats were amnesic for previously learned items when a drug (anisomycin) was administered during memory retrieval. The effect was found to be equally effective from 1 to 14 days after training. In narrow terms, the finding is probably one of the physiological bases for the reason that recall is more a process of active “remembering,” than one of passive recall of a fixed memory. In more general terms, it offers the physiological foundation for the range of well-described manipulations and distortions of memory (cf. Nachtraglichkeit), which are well known in the psychological literature (for example in the work of Elizabeth Loftus).
, , , , , & (1999), Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. Science, 286: 2526-2528.
, , & (2000), Mirror neurons, procedural learning, and the positive new experience: A developmental systems self psychology approach. J. Am. Acad. Psychoanal. Dyn. Psychiatr., 28: 409-430.
, & (1998), Grasping objects and grasping action meanings: The dual role of monkey rostroventral premotor cortex (area F5). Novartis Foundation Symposium, 218: 81-95. The Nader et al. paper discusses the recent research on “mirror neurons” (previously reviewed in Neuro-Psychoanalysis, 1999, 1(2), p. 279). These cells (in the macaque monkey) respond to both a self