Stress effects on memory: an update and integration

Publication year: 2011
Source: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 13 July 2011
Lars, Schwabe , Marian, Joëls , Benno, Roozendaal , Oliver T., Wolf , Melly S., Oitzl
It is well known that stressful experiences may affect learning and memory processes. Less clear is the exact nature of these stress effects on memory: Both enhancing and impairing effects have been reported. These opposite effects may be explained if the different time courses of stress hormone, in particular catecholamine and glucocorticoid, actions are taken into account. Integrating two popular models, we argue here that rapid catecholamine and non-genomic glucocorticoid actions interact in the basolateral amygdala to shift the organism into a ‘memory formation mode’ that facilitates the consolidation of stressful experiences into long-term memory. The undisturbed consolidation of these…
Highlights: ? Stress effects on memory depend on the timing of stress relative to learning ? Rapid, non-genomic glucocorticoid actions lead to a ‘memory formation mode’ ? Slow, genomic glucocorticoid actions promote a ‘memory storage mode’ ? Stress and stress hormones affect memory beyond the hippocampus