Independent natural genetic variation of punishment- versus relief-memory.
A painful event establishes two opponent memories: cues that are associated with pain onset are remembered negatively, whereas cues that coincide with the relief at pain offset acquire positive valence. Such punishment- versus relief-memories are conserved across species, including humans, and the balance between them is critical for adaptive behaviour with respect to pain and trauma. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster as a study case, we found that both punishment- and relief-memories display natural variation across wild-derived inbred strains, but they do not covary, suggesting a considerable level of dissociation in their genetic effectors. This provokes the question whether there may be heritable inter-individual differences in the balance between these opponent memories in man, with potential psycho-clinical implications.
['Appel|Mirjam|M|', 'Scholz|Claus-Jürgen|CJ|0000-0002-6406-7859', 'Kocabey|Samet|S|', 'Savage|Sinead|S|', 'König|Christian|C|', 'Yarali|Ayse|A|0000-0002-9048-4306']
D000818:Animals D001245:Association Learning D003213:Conditioning, Psychological D004331:Drosophila melanogaster D004597:Electroshock D014644:Genetic Variation D008568:Memory D009812:Odorants D011678:Punishment D012201:Reward D012903:Smell
natural genetic variation relief Drosophila melanogaster associative memory opponent processes punishment