An electroconvulsive therapy procedure impairs reconsolidation of episodic memories in humans

The reconsolidation hypothesis states that reactivated memory traces are vulnerable to disruption from treatments that also impair initial memory consolidation. In this study, the authors demonstrate that electroconvulsive therapy—an invasive procedure—disrupts reactivated episodic memories when tested 1 d later, but not when tested shortly after treatment. Despite accumulating evidence for a reconsolidation process in animals, support in humans, especially for episodic memory, is limited. Using a within-subjects manipulation, we found that a single application of electroconvulsive therapy following memory reactivation in patients with unipolar depression disrupted reactivated, but not non-reactivated, memories for an emotional episode in a time-dependent manner. Our results provide evidence for reconsolidation of emotional episodic memories in humans.