Suppressing the Morning Cortisol Rise After Memory Reactivation at 4 A.M. Enhances Episodic Memory Reconsolidation in Humans

Evidence from animal and human research shows that established memories can undergo changes after reactivation through a process called reconsolidation. Alterations of the level of the stress hormone cortisol may provide a way to manipulate reconsolidation in humans. Here, in a double-blind, within-subject design, we reactivated a 3-d-old memory at 3:55 A.M. in sixteen men and four women, immediately followed by oral administration of metyrapone versus placebo, to examine whether metyrapone-induced suppression of the morning cortisol rise may influence reconsolidation processes during and after early morning sleep. Crucially, reactivation followed by cortisol suppression versus placebo resulted in enhanced memory for the reactivated episode tested 4 d after reactivation. This enhancement after cortisol suppression was specific for the reactivated episode versus a non-reactivated episode. These findings suggest that when reactivation of memories is immediately followed by suppression of cortisol levels during early morning sleep in humans, reconsolidation processes change in a way that leads to the strengthening of episodic memory traces. How can we change formed memories? Modulation of established memories has been long debated in cognitive neuroscience and remains a crucial question to address for basic and clinical research. Stress-hormone cortisol and sleep are strong candidates for changing consolidated memories. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject pharmacological study, we investigate the role of cortisol on the modulation of reconsolidation of episodic memories in humans. Blocking cortisol synthesis (3 g metyrapone) during early morning sleep boosts memory for a reactivated but not for a non-reactivated story. This finding contributes to our understanding of the modulatory role of cortisol and its circadian variability on reconsolidation, and moreover can critically inform clinical interventions for the case of memory dysfunctions, and trauma and stress-related disorders.