The acute effects of psychoactive drugs on emotional episodic memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval: A comprehensive review.
Manoj K Doss, Harriet de Wit, David A Gallo
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews July 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105188 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPsychoactive drugs affect emotional episodic memory at three stages: encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Drugs given before encoding can impair (e.g., alcohol, benzodiazepines, THC, ketamine), enhance (e.g., dextroamphetamine), or both impair and enhance (e.g., MDMA) emotional memories compared to neutral ones. Sedatives given after encoding can preferentially boost emotional memories during consolidation, but this selectivity may weaken or reverse over time. Retrieving memories under THC, dextroamphetamine, MDMA, or sedatives can distort memory, especially for positive emotional content. The review proposes neural mechanisms and discusses how these effects might influence drug use and abuse.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Cannabis Ketamine MDMA |
| Keywords | Alcohol Amphetamine Benzodiazepine Consolidation Drugs of abuse |
| Citations | 30 |
| Key finding | Psychoactive drugs modulate emotional episodic memory in stage-specific ways, with encoding effects ranging from impairment to enhancement, consolidation effects showing time-dependent selectivity, and retrieval effects distorting memory, particularly for positive emotional content. |
Abstract
Psychoactive drugs modulate learning and emotional processes in ways that could impact their recreational and medical use. Recent work has revealed how drugs impact different stages of processing emotional episodic memories, specifically encoding (forming memories), consolidation (stabilizing memories), and retrieval (accessing memories). Drugs administered before encoding may preferentially impair (e.g., GABAA sedatives including alcohol and benzodiazepines, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, ketamine), enhance (e.g., dextroamphetamine and dextromethamphetamine), or both impair and enhance (i.e., ± 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine or MDMA) emotionally negative and positive compared to neutral memories. GABAA sedatives administered immediately post-encoding (during consolidation) can preferentially enhance emotional memories, though this selectivity may decline or even reverse (i.e., preferential enhancement of neutral memories) as the delay between encoding and retrieval increases. Finally, retrieving memories under the effects of THC, dextroamphetamine, MDMA, and perhaps GABAA sedatives distorts memory, with potentially greater selectively for emotional (especially positive) memories. We review these effects, propose neural mechanisms, discuss methodological considerations for future work, and speculate how drug effects on emotional episodic memory may contribute to drug use and abuse.