A Bridge Over Troubled Water: Reconsolidation as a Link Between Cognitive and Neuroscientific Memory Research Traditions Oliver Hardt, 1 Einar ¨ Orn Einarsson, 1 and Karim Nader Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1 Canada; email: oliver.hardt@mac.com; einar.einarsson@mcgill.ca; karim.nader@mcgill.ca Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2010. 61:141–67 First published online as a Review in Advance on October 19, 2009 The Annual Review of Psychology is online at psych.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100455 Copyright c  2010 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved 0066-4308/10/0110-0141$20.00 1 These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship. Correspondence may be addressed to either author Key Words consolidation, reconsolidation, memory updating, memory distortions Abstract There are two research traditions on dynamic memory processes. In cognitive psychology, the malleable nature of long-term memory has been extensively documented. Distortions, such as the misinformation effect or hindsight bias, illustrate that memories can be easily changed, often without their owner taking notice. On the other hand, effects like hypermnesia demonstrate that memory might be more reliable than these distortions suggest. In the neuroscience field, similar observa- tions were obtained mostly from animal studies. Research on memory consolidation suggested that memories become progressively resistant to amnesic treatments over time, but the reconsolidation phenomenon showed that this stability can be transiently lifted when these memo- ries are reactivated, i.e., retrieved. Surprisingly, both research traditions have not taken much notice of each others’ advances in understanding memory dynamics. We apply concepts developed in neuroscience to phenomena revealed in cognitive psychology to illustrate how these twins separated at birth may be reunited again. 141 Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2010.61:141-167. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Ecole Polytechnique Federal Lausanne on 08/18/15. For personal use only.