How Drugs & Drug-Linked Cues Strengthen Memory. Drug-Linked Cues Evoke Drug-Like Responses. FPS#8

Addictive drugs are said to often worsen memory, and anecdotal reports of drug-users with poor memory are abundant. But what if these reports are wrong? What if drugs of abuse can improve memory under particular circumstances? In this episode, Michael Wolter - Neuroscience PhD Candidate from the University of Guelph - joins us to discuss how Heroin and other drugs of abuse (including cocaine & nicotine) can enhance memory for events immediately preceding drug intake. This work has vast implications for the development of addiction, and for preventing relapse to addictive drugs. In fact, drug-linked experiences stored in the brain's long-term memory centres are believed to be largely responsible for relapse to drug seeking behaviour and drug abuse, even after long periods of successful abstinence. Manuscript: Modulation of object memory consolidation by Heroin and Heroin-conditioned stimuli: Role of opioid and noradrenergic systems. Published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32067860 

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