This is Part 2 of July's article. I realize this section is a bit more technical and have attempted to change some of the wording (or translate it). Note: One key thing I want to impress upon you in this article is the importance of understanding that in the situation of a conditioned response to something, one most typically reacts to a cue without the necessity of conscious awareness. In the case of trauma survivors reacting to cues/triggers (as in PTSD, etc.), conditioned fear responses are a result of the brain continuing to tell the body to remain in a hypervigilant state even when it shouldn't (which is why it becomes so problematic).
How fear affects memory
Numerous studies have shown that there is a strong interaction between fear and memory processes. Alterations in memory function as a result of extreme fear and highly stressful events are not an uncommon report by any means. Fear is certainly one of the most powerful experiences individuals encounter during a lifetime. The strength of any given subjective experience may be prove to be a critical function to species survival since fearful experiences tend to be learned more rapidly and remembered long after a fear provoking experience has passed (Fendt & Fanselow, 1999).
Memory generally has to do with the way the brain records, stores, and remembers information. It can be measured by recall, reproduction, recognition, and relearning (Chaplin, 1985). In order for information from our external world to be "memorized," it must be encoded. The encoding of memory involves a complex process we will not go into here, but the bottom line is that learning occurs and memories are encoded when the stimulus is strong enough to trigger sufficient neural activity (Malenka & Nicoll (1997). (Rogan et al. (1995) and McKernan and Shinnick-Gallagher (1997) have also shown that fear conditioning causes an increase in synaptic strength in neural circuits).
Not all information is stored and recorded so that it becomes memory, but some types of information are more likely to be recorded or stored in long-term memory than others. "The greater the significance of the event and the higher the emotional charge - both positive and negative - the more likely a piece of information (or an event made up of multiple pieces of information) will be stored" (Schacter, 1996). When it comes to traumatic memories, all of this comes into play. Extreme stressors such as childhood abuse can have lasting effects on brain areas involved in memory and emotion (Bremner, 2002). The hippocampus, a structure clearly indicated in these functions, is a structure particularly vulnerable to stress.
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