Competition between engrams influences fear memory formation and recall

TLDR

Engrams are brain tissue changes that store individual memories, and while neuroscientists can localize and manipulate them, the interaction between multiple engrams was previously poorly understood. The study examined how neural assemblies in the lateral amygdala interact to encode fear memories. When two frightening events occurred within six hours, the same neuronal set expressed both fear memories, whereas events spaced 24 hours apart produced distinct memory traces. Rashid et al.

Abstract

How to link and separate memories Engrams are the changes in brain tissue that store single memories. Neuroscientists can localize and manipulate them, but until now, little was known about how multiple engrams interact to influence memories. Rashid et al. examined how neural assemblies in an area called the lateral amygdala interact. If two frightening events occurred within 6 hours, the same set of neurons was used to express fear memories for both events. However, if the events were separated by 24 hours, distinct memory traces were formed. Science , this issue p. 383