Autobiographical memory recall has been suggested to play a key role in the experience of a continuous sense of self across time, and activation of the default mode network may be underlying this process since it has been shown to be active when individuals are engaged in internally focused or self-referential tasks, learn more including autobiographical memory retrieval, envisioning the future, and theory of mind.80 Patients with PTSD have been shown to have alterations in self-referential processing, including autobiographical memory recall,81,82 future-oriented thinking,83 and theory Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of mind.84,85 Moreover, default mode network functioning which has been proposed

to be the underlying mechanism of these interrelated processes has been shown to be altered in PTSD.86-88 The relationship between self-referential processing, in particular autobiographical memory recall, the default mode network, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and brain networks involved in memory reconsolidation will therefore be an important avenue of future research. Can reconsolidation blockade affect other mental disorders? Substance addiction is a progressive psychopathology that

leads to compulsive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical substance- taking behavior. Even after long periods of abstinence, relapse is quite common.89 Cues in the environment that have acquired an associative relationship with substances are thought to contribute to substance taking and relapse.90 There are at least two properties of cues associated with substances that could contribute to substance -taking behavior. First, they can acquire rewarding and reinforcing properties unto themselves,91 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Second, they can induce the resumption of substance-taking behavior (relapse).92,93

These cue-substance associations are very persistent and resistant to the extinction protocols used to decrease the strength of these conditioned Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical responses in humans94,95 or animals.96 Thus, in the clinic, extinction-based treatments have, to date, not been very effective. Craving is also thought to be a process that mediates the effect of substance-related cues on relapse.97,98 Animal models of drug addiction have reported that the neurobiological mechanisms of craving undergo reconsolidation. When blocked, craving can reduce the ability of substance-related cues to induce relapse.99 To date, targeting craving via reconsolidation Rutecarpine blockage has shown to be the only short-term effective treatment (ie, onetime intervention) of relapse-prevention. Consequently, targeting reconsolidation of the mechanisms that mediate drug craving should increase the likelihood of longterm abstinence in humans.90 Two elegant studies have reported the effects of targeting reconsolidation on craving mechanisms in opiate-100 or cocaine-101 dependent drug users with amazing success. Using a behavioral procedure akin to interference, Xue100 reported that craving in opiate addicts was reduced when reconsolidation was blocked.