Research article summary (published 29 Jun 2009):

Event-related potential evidence that automatic recollection can be voluntarily avoided.

Full Abstract

Voluntary control processes can be recruited to facilitate recollection in situations where a retrieval cue fails to automatically bring to mind a desired episodic memory. We investigated whether voluntary control processes can also stop recollection of unwanted memories that would otherwise have been automatically recollected. Participants were trained on cue-associate word-pairs, then repeatedly presented with the cue and asked to either recollect or avoid recollecting the associate, while having the event-related potential (ERP) correlate of conscious recollection measured. Halfway through the phase, some cues switched instructions so that participants had to start avoiding recall of associates they had previously repeatedly recalled, and vice versa. ERPs during recollection avoidance showed a significantly reduced positivity in the correlate of conscious recollection, and switching instructions reversed the ERP effect even for items that had been previously repeatedly recalled, suggesting that voluntary control processes can override highly practiced, automatic recollection. Avoiding recollection of particularly prepotent memories was associated with an additional, earlier ERP negativity that was separable from the later voluntary modulation of conscious recollection. The findings have implications for theories of memory retrieval by highlighting the involvement of voluntary attentional processes in controlling conscious recollection.

Author information

Author/s: Bergström, Zara M (ZM); de Fockert, Jan (J); Richardson-Klavehn, Alan (A);

Affiliation: Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. zara.bergstroem(-atsign-)med.ovgu.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 21 (issue 7) : pp 1280-301

Dates: Created 2009/04/27; Completed 2009/08/12;

PMID: 18702575, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 8/21/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Adult Attention - physiology Brain - physiology Brain Mapping Consciousness Cues Electroencephalography Evoked Potentials - physiology Female

Female Humans Male Mental Recall - physiology Paired-Associate Learning - physiology Photic Stimulation - methods Reaction Time - physiology Statistics as Topic Time Factors Young Adult

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