Conditioned pain is resistant to memory reactivation and affective working memory interference: Evidence from reconsolidation

Under the theory of memory reconsolidation, memory reactivation induces a temporary window of destabilisation during which memories become malleable. Behavioural reconsolidation interference has been proposed as a method for weakening maladaptive emotional and pain-related memories; however, evidence for its efficacy remains mixed. In this study, participants (N = 51) completed a three-day reconsolidation interference paradigm. On Day 1, they underwent a pain conditioning procedure in which visual cues (conditioned stimulus; CS) were paired with moderately painful electric shocks (unconditioned stimulus; US). On Day 2, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Reactivation + Working Memory (R+WM), Reactivation Only (RO), or Working Memory Task Only (WMO). An adaptive emotional n-back task served as the WM interference, which consisted of negatively valenced word stimuli. On Day 3, all participants underwent extinction learning. Learning was assessed via explicit expectancy ratings and skin conductance responses (SCR). On Day 1, conditioning produced robust discrimination between reinforced and non-reinforced cues in both expectancy ratings and SCR amplitudes. Overall, expectancy ratings declined from conditioning to extinction, but this did not differ across groups. Similarly, SCR amplitudes decreased over time during extinction, consistent with CS-US unpairing, but with no group differences. These findings suggest that WM interference following reactivation does not impact later pain recall or extinction. This contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the efficacy of behavioural reconsolidation interference. The null effects observed here underscore the need to clarify the so-called boundary conditions of reconsolidation and better understand neural mechanisms underlying pain memory and learning.