Separable neural mechanisms support intentional forgetting and thought substitution

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1101/2020.10.29.360511 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan J. Hubbard ◽

Lili Sahakyan

Keyword(s):

Directed Forgetting ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Intentional Forgetting ◽

Neural Processes ◽

Oscillatory Power ◽

Successful Retrieval ◽

Open Question ◽

Direct Suppression

AbstractPsychological and neuroscientific experiments have established that people can intentionally forget information via different strategies: direct suppression and thought substitution. However, few studies have directly compared the effectiveness of these strategies in forgetting specific items, and it remains an open question if the neural mechanisms supporting these strategies differ. Here, we developed a novel item-method directed forgetting paradigm with Remember, Forget, and Imagine cues, and recorded EEG to directly compare these strategies. Behaviorally, Forget and Imagine cues produced similar forgetting compared to Remember cues, but through separable neural processes; Forget cues elicited frontal oscillatory power changes that were predictive of future forgetting, whereas item-cue representational similarity was predictive of later accuracy for Imagine cues. These results suggest that both strategies can lead to intentional forgetting, but directed forgetting may rely on frontally-mediated suppression, while thought substitution may lead to contextual shifting, impairing successful retrieval.

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Tracking selective rehearsal and active inhibition of memory traces in directed forgetting

10.1101/864819 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Christin Fellner ◽

Gerd T. Waldhauser ◽

Nikolai Axmacher

Keyword(s):

Time Window ◽

Early Time ◽

Directed Forgetting ◽

Intentional Control ◽

Active Inhibition ◽

Intentional Forgetting ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Neural Inhibition ◽

Selective Rehearsal ◽

Open Question

SummarySelectively remembering or forgetting newly encountered information is essential for goal-directed behavior. It is still an open question, however, whether intentional forgetting is an active process based on the inhibition of unwanted memory traces or whether it occurs passively through reduced recruitment of selective rehearsal [1,2]. Here we show that intentional control of memory encoding relies on both, enhanced active inhibition and decreased selective rehearsal, and that these two processes can be separated in time and space. We applied representational similarity analysis (RSA [3]) and timefrequency analysis to EEG data during an item-method directed forgetting experiment [4]. We identified neural signatures of both the intentional suppression and the voluntary upregulation of item-specific representations. Successful active forgetting was associated with a downregulation of item-specific representations in an early time window, 500ms after the instruction. This process was initiated by an increase in oscillatory alpha (8-13 Hz) power, a well-established signature of neural inhibition [5,6], in occipital brain areas. During a later time window, 1500ms after the cue, intentional forgetting was associated with reduced employment of active rehearsal processes, as reflected by an attenuated upregulation of item-specific representations as compared to intentionally encoded items. Our data show that active inhibition and selective rehearsal are two separate mechanisms whose consecutive employment allows for a voluntary control of memory formation.

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Neural Mechanisms of Hyperalgesia: Peripheral or Central Sensitization?

Physiology ◽

10.1152/physiologyonline.1995.10.6.260 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 260-265

Author(s):

E Carstens

Keyword(s):

Spinal Cord ◽

Central Sensitization ◽

Pain Sensitivity ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Neural Processes

Everyone has experienced soreness after an injury. What neural processes underlie this increased pain sensitivity (hyperalgesia)? Recent data indicate that injury triggers an increase in the sensitivity of spinal cord pain-signaling neurons. Nonpainful activation of these sensitized neurons evokes an exaggerated signal interpreted as pain.

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Insights into the neural mechanisms of becoming bilingual: A brief synthesis of second language research with artificial linguistic systems

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728919000701 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 87-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kara Morgan-Short

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Test Tube ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

System Research ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Grammar Learning ◽

Linguistic System ◽

Language Research ◽

Neural Processes

AbstractArtificial linguistic systems can offer researchers test tube-like models of second language (L2) acquisition through which specific questions can be examined under tightly controlled conditions. This paper examines what research with artificial linguistic systems has revealed about the neural mechanisms involved in L2 grammar learning. It first considers the validity of meaningful and non-meaningful artificial linguistic systems. Then it contextualizes and synthesizes neural artificial linguistic system research related to questions about age of exposure to the L2, type of exposure, and online L2 learning mechanisms. Overall, using artificial linguistic systems seems to be an effective and productive way of developing knowledge about L2 neural processes and correlates. With further validation, artificial linguistic system paradigms may prove an important tool more generally in understanding how individuals learn new linguistic systems as they become bilingual.

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Intentional forgetting reduces the semantic processing of to-be-forgotten items: An ERP study of item-method directed forgetting

Psychophysiology ◽

10.1111/psyp.12125 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 50 (11) ◽

pp. 1120-1132 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Wen-Jing Lin ◽

Yu-Ching Kuo ◽

Tzu-Ling Liu ◽

Yi-Jhong Han ◽

Shih-Kuen Cheng

Keyword(s):

Semantic Processing ◽

Directed Forgetting ◽

Intentional Forgetting

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Spatiotemporal neural correlates of brain-computer interface learning

10.1101/487074 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Constance Corsi ◽

Mario Chavez ◽

Denis Schwartz ◽

Nathalie George ◽

Laurent Hugueville ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Real Life ◽

Good Control ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Human Beings ◽

Related Activity ◽

Computer Interfaces ◽

Neural Processes ◽

Communication Control

AbstractBrain-computer interfaces have been largely developed to allow communication, control, and neurofeedback in human beings. Despite their great potential, BCIs perform inconsistently across individuals. Moreover, the neural processes activated by training that enable humans to achieve good control remain poorly understood. In this study, we show that BCI skill acquisition is paralleled by a progressive reinforcement of task-related activity and by the reduction of connectivity between regions beyond those primarily targeted during the experiments. Notably, these patterns of activity and connectivity reflect growing automaticity and predict future BCI performance. Altogether, our findings provide new insights in the neural mechanisms underlying BCI learning, which have implications for the use of this technology in a broad range of real-life applications.

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Neural processes of culturally familiar information

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198743194.003.0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Shihui Han

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Cultural Beliefs ◽

Mental States ◽

Cultural Knowledge ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Cultural Learning ◽

Religious Knowledge ◽

Neural Processes ◽

Cultural Experiences

Chapter 2 introduces the concept of cultural learning and its function in the transmission of cultural knowledge over generations, and the construction of new cultural beliefs/values and behavioral scripts. It examines brain activity that is engaged in differential processing of culturally familiar and unfamiliar information by reviewing functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potential studies of neural activity involved in the processing of gesture, music, brand, and religious knowledge. Long-term cultural experiences give rise to specific neural mechanisms in the human brain that deal with culturally familiar information in multiple neural circuits underlying the inference of mental states and reward, for example. The unique neural mechanisms underlying culturally familiar stimuli provide a default mode of neural processing of culturally familiar information received in daily life.

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Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1707241114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 114 (35) ◽

pp. 9247-9254 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Elif Isbell ◽

Courtney Stevens ◽

Eric Pakulak ◽

Amanda Hampton Wray ◽

Theodore A. Bell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Preliminary Investigation ◽

Basic Research ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Lower Socioeconomic Status ◽

Lower Socioeconomic ◽

Neural Processes ◽

Family Based

This article reviews the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based interventions. We use this background to present a promising preliminary investigation of how genetic and experiential factors interact during development (i.e., gene × intervention interactions). Our findings provide evidence on how exposure to a family-based training can modify the associations between genotype (5-HTTLPR) and the neural mechanisms of selective attention in preschool children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.

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