A Canadian study suggests a drug used to decrease stress hormone levels may also limit the long-term impact of bad memories, a finding that could potentially benefit individuals who have suffered psychological trauma.Lead author Marie-France Marin, a doctoral student at the University of Montreal, said researchers knew there was a close link between memory and cortisol, a stress hormone involved in memory recall.
“We knew that lowering cortisol levels at the time of learning a new event will decrease the formation of that memory,” said Marin, based at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital. “However, for a very long time, we thought that any effect on memory after it has stabilized in the brain would be temporary.”