Modulation of memory for stressful experiences: revealing hypermnesia

The American Psychological Association defines Hypermnesia as a condition characterized by an extreme degree of memory retention and retrieval. In the field of memory research, substantial attention has always been given to the completely opposite situation: memory loss. Memory loss has long been recognized as the principal characteristic of several mental disorders (e.g. Alzheimer Disease) and it is principally related to impairments in memory retrieval and more generally, to hypofunction of memory processes. On the other hand, memory hyperfunction has to be considered an equally serious memory alteration which can lead, at the same way of memory loss, to many psychiatric disorders such as the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) characterized by intrusive thoughts and flashbacks due to an excessive and involuntary memory retrieval of a negative past experience. This thesis aimed at investigating a still unexplored dark side of memory: hypermnesia. All together our results provide new insights in the field of memory research. Particularly, investigating the mechanisms supporting hypermnesia, also under the pathological point of view of PTSD’s memory alterations, and studying how memory enhancement may be modulated, open the road to a better understanding of the mechanism sustaining not only good memory function but memory loss as well