Good Memory or Bad Memory? How Your Brain Decides.

The Context: Associating memories with good and bad feelings is something we do daily without a second thought. However, scientists have been working hard to discern how the brain is able to assign positive or negative feelings to certain memories, and how this may play a role in disorders where this process is overactive such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Study: A signaling molecule called neurotensin is responsible for determining whether memories become associated with a positive or negative feeling, found a studypublished in Nature from the lab of NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Alumna Kay Tye, PhD, of the Salk Institute. Dr. Tye compares neurotensin to the switch operator of a set of train tracks, controlling whether a memory takes the positive or negative track.

The Importance: Learning more about how positive and negative feelings are assigned, as well as the role of neurotensin and its receptors in this process, can lead to new therapies for treating disorders like anxiety, depression, or PTSD.