Medial Prefrontal Cortex Has a Causal Role in Selectively Enhanced Consolidation of Emotional Memories after a 24-Hour Delay: A TBS Study

Abstract

Previous research points to an association between retrieval-related activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and preservation of emotional information compared with co-occurring neutral information following sleep. Although the role of the mPFC in emotional memory likely begins at encoding, little research has examined how mPFC activity during encoding interacts with consolidation processes to enhance emotional memory. This issue was addressed in the present study using transcranial magnetic stimulation in conjunction with an emotional memory paradigm. Healthy young adults encoded negative and neutral scenes while undergoing concurrent TMS with a modified short intermittent theta burst stimulation (sTBS) protocol. Participants received stimulation to either the mPFC or an active control site (motor cortex) during the encoding phase. Recognition memory for scene components (objects and backgrounds) was assessed after a short delay (30 min) and a long delay [24 h (including a night of sleep)] to obtain measures of specific and gist-based memory processes. The results demonstrated that, relative to control stimulation, sTBS to the mPFC enhanced memory for negative objects on the long delay test (collapsed across specific and gist-based memory measures). mPFC stimulation had no discernable effect on memory for objects on the short delay test nor on the background images at either test. These results suggest that mPFC activity occurring during encoding interacts with consolidation processes to preferentially preserve negatively salient information.

Age-related reduction in anxiety and neural encoding of negative emotional memory

“…Negative emotions can enhance both the accuracy (Kensinger, 2007;Mather and Sutherland, 2011) and/or subjective feelings of vividness or confidence for retrieved memory (Dougal and Rotello, 2007;Phelps and Sharot, 2008). Previous studies observed higher sensitivity in recalling negative vs. neutral images (Anderson et al, 2006;Rimmele et al, 2011;Xie and Zhang, 2017;Yeh et al, 2021). Here, we did not observe a significant difference in sensitivity in recalling negative vs. neutral images.…”

“…On the other hand, we observed higher reporting bias in recalling negative vs. neutral images. Indeed, while recollection was more accurate for negative than neutral scenes (Anderson et al, 2006;Yeh et al, 2021), Rimmele et al noted enhanced subjective feeling of remembering negative vs. neutral scenes without actually remembering the scene details (Rimmele et al, 2011). The other study noted item memory as enhanced under negative vs. neutral conditions was also associated with elevated subjective feelings of remembering the conditions (Xie and Zhang, 2017).…”

Age-related reduction in anxiety and neural encoding of negative emotional memory

“…Negative emotions can enhance both the accuracy ( Kensinger, 2007 ; Mather and Sutherland, 2011 ) and/or subjective feelings of vividness or confidence for retrieved memory ( Dougal and Rotello, 2007 ; Phelps and Sharot, 2008 ). Previous studies observed higher sensitivity in recalling negative versus neutral images ( Anderson et al, 2006 ; Rimmele et al, 2011 ; Xie and Zhang, 2017 ; Yeh et al, 2021 ). Here, we did not observe a significant difference in sensitivity in recalling negative versus neutral images.…”

Anatomical and Functional Connectivity of Critical Deep Brain Structures and Their Potential Clinical Application in Brain Stimulation

“…Recently, intensified transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the mPFC has been found to improve cognitive control, motivation, and emotional functions for social anxiety disorder by modulating the amygdala–frontal network [ 62 ]. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) of the mPFC has been found to facilitate emotional memories within an emotion–cognition network, including changes in hippocampus/amygdala-mPFC circuits [ 63 ]. Collectively, the mPFC may be a promising neuromodulation target to improve memory and affective disorders.…”