The malleability of memory: The effect of intervention strength during reconsolidation

Abstract

During the process of reconsolidation, memories become susceptible to change, by adding new information as a post-reactivation intervention. The current study examines the interaction effect between reactivation and new learning on an old strong memory. On Day 1, participants learned a set of pictures three times to create a strong memory. On Day 8, seven days after initial learning, participants reactivated the original picture set and/or learned a second picture set once or thrice. A day later, participants engaged in a memory performance test in which they indicated which pictures belonged to the original set. Results show that reactivation prior to new learning had no effect on memory performance. New learning led to lower scores on memory performance. Interestingly, no difference was found between weak and strong new learning.