Erratum: Rehebbilitating Memory

Abstract

Reports an error in "Rehebbilitating memory" by Tomás J. Ryan and Susumu Tonegawa ( Neuropsychopharmacology, 2016[Jan], Vol 41[1], 370-371). In the original article, the first reference in the list should read: Liu X, Ramirez S, Pang PT, Puryear CB, Govindarajan A, Deisseroth K et al (2012). Optogenetic stimulation of a hippocampal engram activates fear memory recall. Nature 484: 381-385. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2016-03747-023). This article briefs about rehebbilitating memory. Amnesia is a deficit of memory function that can result from trauma, stress, disease, drug use, or ageing. Though efforts are being made to prevent and treat the various causes of amnesia, there remains no treatment for the symptom of memory loss itself. From a clinical perspective, pathological cases of amnesia that are due to retrieval deficits may in principle be treatable rather than merely preventable. Amnesia could be attributed to a retrieval deficit if the ostensible lost' memory could be evoked through brain stimulation. The challenge here is to identify exactly where in the brain a particular memory is stored. Using this genetic technology, the memory engram cell population in the hippocampus could be identified, and their subsequent reactivation by light of a specific wavelength was sufficient for eliciting recall of the specific memory. Furthermore, these engram cell populations were shown to be essential for natural memory recall. The authors employed engram technology to investigate retrograde amnesia due to disrupted memory consolidation. Embracing a theoretical dissociation of the dual features of storage and access may account for this discrepancy and should lead to novel lines of research into the neurobiological mechanisms of memory storage and memory retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)