Learning and memory in psychopathology

Learning and memory play a central role in various forms of psychopathology. People with depressive complaints are characterized by overgeneral autobiographical memories, flashbacks are a core feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), avoidance learning is an important factor in the genesis and maintenance of clinical anxiety, and deficits in working memory and other executive functions are central in ADHD, to give but a few examples. Treatment aims to adjust memory representations, for instance through corrective learning experiences, and to target impairments in learning and memory more directly, e.g., through the training of working memory and related cognitive functions or through improving an individual’s reminiscence style. Those examples illustrate how psychological and neurobiological theories of learning and memory have always been an important source of inspiration for our understanding of psychological disorders, and how evolutions in basic knowledge regarding learning and memory have provided the impetus for the development and improvement of treatments and interventions. Yet the translation of the newest insights from experimental cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience regarding basic processes of learning and memory into novel and more effective treatments is often slow and cumbersome. This is due in part to the fact that research groups are typically specialized either in generating novel basic insights regarding psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of learning and memory or in developing novel interventions for psychological complaints (sometimes based on basic insights developed elsewhere). Few teams are experts in both aspects, which impairs the translation of novel insights from basic experimental science to the clinic and also has basic scientists sometimes overestimate the degree to which their findings are relevant or applicable to clinical practice, due to a lack of research on the predictive validity of laboratory models for psychological disorders. The aim of the current scientific research network is to intensify existing contacts between some of the most prominent research groups and departments on this domain and to forge a number of new connections. This involves on the one hand teams that already bridge the divide between basic psychological science and clinical psychopathology and on the other hand groups that either push the boundaries in basic research on learning and memory or set the agenda in the understanding and treatment of psychopathology. Common denominator of all partners involved is a clear interest in and commitment to the translation between basic science and clinical application.