Recovery of memory from infantile amnesia is developmentally constrained

Episodic memories formed during infancy are rapidly forgotten, a phenomenon associated with infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to recall early-life memories. In both rats and mice, infantile memories, although not expressed, are actually stored long term in a latent form. These latent memories can be reinstated later in life by certain behavioral reminders or by artificial reactivations of neuronal ensembles activated at training. Whether the recovery of infantile memories is limited by developmental age, maternal presence, or contingency of stimuli presentation remains to be determined. Here, we show that the return of inhibitory avoidance memory in rats following a behavioral reactivation consisting of an exposure to the context (conditioned stimuli [CS]) and footshock (unconditioned stimuli [US]) given in a temporally unpaired fashion, is evident immediately after US and is limited by the developmental age at which the reactivations are presented; however, it is not influenced by maternal presence or the time interval between training and reactivation. We conclude that one limiting factor for infantile memory reinstatement is developmental age, suggesting that a brain maturation process is necessary to allow the recovery of a “lost” infantile memory.

Hippocampus-dependent episodic memories formed early in life are rapidly forgotten. This process of forgetting is evolutionarily conserved and is associated with infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to recall early-life memories (Campbell and Spear 1972; Rovee-Collier 1999; Hayne 2004; Josselyn and Frankland 2012; Callaghan et al. 2014; Madsen and Kim 2016; Alberini and Travaglia 2017).Although they are rapidly forgotten, early-life experiences influence brain functions throughout life (Jacobs and Nadel 1985; Meaney et al. 1988; Sroufe et al. 1990; Brunson et al. 2005; Pryce et al. 2005; Mineka and Zinbarg 2006; Bale et al. 2010; Poulos et al. 2014; Perry and Sullivan 2014) and produce long-lasting biological changes in the brain. For example, aversive early-life experiences regulate the expression of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) functions in a persistent fashion (Champagne and Curley 2009). Moreover, threatening experiences in early life can predispose individuals to psychopathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mood and anxiety disorders (Heim and Nemeroff 2001). Consistent with this long-lasting influence on behavior, studies in rodent models have shown that, in contrast to what was previously believed, memories formed in infancy (at postnatal days 16–18 [PN16–PN18]) although not expressed, are not lost. Rather, they are stored over the longer term in a latent form and can reemerge at later times, up to adulthood, following behavioral reactivations or artificial stimulation of the neuronal ensembles activated at learning (Travaglia et al. 2016; Guskjolen et al. 2018; Bessières et al. 2020).In our previous studies based on rat inhibitory avoidance (IA), a paradigm in which the animal learns to avoid a context previously paired with a footshock, we confirmed that an infantile episodic learning event given at PN17 resulted in the typical rapid forgetting. We then found that, however, this memory was stored long term in a latent form, as demonstrated by the observation that it could reemerge following a behavioral reactivation consisting of exposure to the training context (conditioned stimulus [CS]) and a later time footshock of the same intensity that was used during training (unconditioned stimulus [US]) but now given in a distinct context. Reexperiencing either the context or the footshock alone failed to reinstate the infantile memory (Travaglia et al. 2016), suggesting that the return of infantile memory is limited by certain boundaries.Several questions about the conditions for the recovery of latent, infantile episodic memories remain to be addressed. First, is infantile memory reinstatement following the unpaired US presentation temporally regulated? Second, is there an age limit for memory reinstatement? Third, given that other types of learning, such as non-hippocampus-dependent cued conditioning, are regulated by the maternal presence during infancy (Moriceau and Sullivan 2006), is infantile episodic memory reinstatement limited or regulated by the presence of the mother? In this study, we set out to address these questions using IA in infant rats.     

The impact of peer relations on academic progress in junior high

The purpose of this study is to examine whether peer relations within classrooms were related to students' academic progress, and if so, whether this can be explained by students' relatedness and engagement, in line with Connell and Wellborn's self-system model. We analyzed data of 18,735 students in 796 school classes in Dutch junior high schools, using multilevel analysis. Academic progress, conceptualized as regular promotion to the next year versus grade retention, moving upward, and moving downward in the track system, was measured at the time of transition between Grades 1 and 2 (equivalent to US Grades 7 and 8). The results indicated that students who were accepted by their peers had lower probabilities to retain a grade or to move downward in the track system. Although peer acceptance was associated with relatedness and engagement, these variables did not explain why peer acceptance was associated to academic progress. Furthermore, peer acceptance and relatedness were more strongly related in classes with more negative class climates.     

Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of the Student Success Skills Program on Grade 5 Students’ Academic and Behavioral Outcomes

A randomized controlled trial of Student Success Skills (SSS) was conducted to determine the effect of the classroom program on Grade 5 students’ (N = 4,305) standardized test scores and proximal socioemotional variables associated with academic achievement. The SSS program was delivered by school counselors and reinforced through cuing and coaching by classroom teachers, which reflects the advocating student‐within‐environment approach to school counseling (Lemberger‐Truelove & Bowers, 2018). Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed the SSS program affected the treatment students’ behavioral engagement, disruption, assertion, cooperation, and test anxiety but did not result in a statistically significant difference on the participants’ reading and mathematics test scores. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.     

Using social cognition to understand people's grandiose narcissism

Grandiose narcissists view the world through a self‐focused lens, which influences the way they perceive and interact with others. A useful strategy for examining narcissism may be to look beyond patterns of behavior to examine the cognitions that motivate narcissists. This review summarizes the cognitive biases that underlie narcissism by exploring how narcissists process, recall, and attend to self‐ and other‐relevant information. Adopting social‐cognitive approaches to studying such processes can potentially uncover the roots of narcissistic behavior and develop greater understanding of how narcissists maintain their self‐views and why they act as they do. A closer examination of narcissists' cognitive biases may inform future interventions to help reduce people's narcissistic tendencies.     

The role of metacognitive beliefs in auditory hallucinations

The mechanisms contributing to the occurrence of auditory hallucinations have not been fully described, although many researchers agree that they may result from some type of misattributed cognitive event. A number of authors have shown that this misattribution may be influenced by ‘top down' processes such as beliefs and expectations. This type of cognitive bias has also been implicated in other psychological disorders. One area of focus, particularly within the anxiety disorders, has been on metacognitive beliefs and their role in the occurrence and maintenance of symptoms. Metacognitive beliefs have not been widely investigated in psychosis and tools to investigate them have not been developed. In this study, a metacognitions questionnaire [MCQ; Cartwright-Hatton, S., & Wells, A. (1997). Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11(3),279–296.] (previously used with anxiety disorders) was modified and used to assess metacognitive beliefs with schizophrenic patients. Metacognitive beliefs were compared between schizophrenic patients who were currently experiencing auditory hallucinations and schizophrenic patients who had never had hallucinations. A group of patients with anxiety disorders and a group of non-patients were used as controls. Hallucinating and non-hallucinating schizophrenics scored significantly higher than both the non-patient group and the anxiety patient group on the amount to which they believed their thoughts should be consistent with each other. Hallucinators and anxiety controls had significantly lower confidence in their cognitive processes than non-hallucinating schizophrenics and normal controls. The significance of these findings are discussed in relation to the literature on cognitive processes in hallucinations.     

Eyewitness identification accuracy and response latency: the unruly 10-12-second rule

Data are reported from 3,213 research eyewitnesses confirming that accurate eyewitness identifications from lineups are made faster than are inaccurate identifications. However, consistent with predictions from the recognition and search literatures, the authors did not find support for the "10-12-s rule" in which lineup identifications faster than 10-12 s maximally discriminate between accurate and inaccurate identifications (D. Dunning & S. Perretta, 2002). Instead, the time frame that proved most discriminating was highly variable across experiments, ranging from 5 s to 29 s, and the maximally discriminating time was often unimpressive in its ability to sort accurate from inaccurate identifications. The authors suggest several factors that are likely to moderate the 10-12-s rule.     

Enhancement of inhibitory avoidance and conditioned taste aversion memory with insular cortex infusions of 8-Br-cAMP: involvement of the basolateral amygdala

There is considerable evidence that in rats, the insular cortex (IC) and amygdala are involved in the learning and memory of aversively motivated tasks. The present experiments examined the effects of 8-Br-cAMP, an analog of cAMP, and oxotremorine, a muscarinic agonist, infused into the IC after inhibitory avoidance (IA) training and during the acquisition/consolidation of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Posttraining infusion into the IC of 0.3 microg oxotremorine and 1.25 microg 8-Br-cAMP enhanced IA retention. Infusions of 8-Br-cAMP, but not oxotremorine, into the IC enhanced taste aversion. The experiments also examined whether noradrenergic activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical in enabling the enhancement of CTA and IA memory induced by drug infusions administered into the IC. For both CTA and IA, ipsilateral infusions of beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol administered into the BLA blocked the retention-enhancing effect of 8-Br-cAMP or oxotremorine infused into the IC. These results indicate that the IC is involved in the consolidation of memory for both IA and CTA, and this effect requires intact noradrenergic activity into the BLA. These findings provide additional evidence that the BLA interacts with other brain regions, including sensory cortex, in modulating memory consolidation.     

From the lab to the police station. A successful application of eyewitness research

The U.S. Department of Justice released the first national guide for collecting and preserving eyewitness evidence in October 1999. Scientific psychology played a large role in making a case for these procedural guidelines as well as in setting a scientific foundation for the guidelines, and eyewitness researchers directly participated in writing them. The authors describe how eyewitness researchers shaped understanding of eyewitness evidence issues over a long period of time through research and theory on system variables. Additional pressure for guidelines was applied by psychologists through expert testimony that focused on deficiencies in the procedures used to collect the eyewitness evidence. DNA exoneration cases were particularly important in leading U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to notice the eyewitness literature in psychology and to order the National Institute of Justice to coordinate the development of national guidelines. The authors describe their experience as members of the working group, which included prosecutors, defense lawyers, and law enforcement officers from across the country.