Inhibitory Control and Selective Encoding into Long-term Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：以目标导向的方式集中思想的能力主要取决于我们忽略或抑制当前不相关信息的能力。然而，这种抑制机制的实施往往与被忽略的信息的后续成本有关。本研究的主要目的是探讨在新记忆的编码过程中抑制机制是否被招募，并明确抑制调节记忆的神经机制。先前的研究已经证实，记忆编码依赖于注意力控制机制，这种机制参与选择环境的哪些方面要被记住。虽然通常认为信息处理的注意力调节是通过提高参与流的“增益”来完成的，但注意力控制也可以通过抑制机制来完成，抑制机制将当前不相关的处理流的注意力分散出去。提出的多模式研究计划将依靠行为、功能磁共振成像和经颅磁刺激方法来(a)解决编码过程中注意力的作用是否参与，至少部分参与无关信息的抑制，以及(b)描述前额叶和顶叶机制对记忆抑制调节的贡献。公共卫生相关性：通过对成功编码所涉及的注意机制的进一步说明，我们有望更好地理解许多患者群体（例如，精神分裂症患者、注意缺陷多动障碍患者、帕金森氏病患者、阿尔茨海默病患者和正常衰老患者）中注意和记忆功能障碍的本质和后果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to focus thought in a goal-directed manner depends critically on our ability to ignore or inhibit currently irrelevant information. The implementation of such inhibitory mechanisms, however, is often associated with subsequent costs for the ignored information. The primary goals of this research are to investigate whether inhibitory mechanisms are recruited during the encoding of new memories and to specify the neural mechanisms through which inhibition serves to modulate memory. Prior research has established that memory encoding depends on attentional control mechanisms that are engaged to select which aspects of the environment are to be remembered. While attentional modulation of information processing is typically thought to be accomplished by turning up the "gain" for attended streams, attentional control could also be accomplished through inhibitory mechanisms that gate out distraction from currently irrelevant processing streams. The proposed multi-modal research program will rely on behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation methods to (a) address whether the role of attention during encoding is involved, at least in part, in the inhibition of irrelevant information, and (b) delineate the contributions of prefrontal and parietal lobe mechanisms to inhibitory modulations of memory. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Through increased specification of the attentional mechanisms involved in successful encoding, we can hope to better understand the nature and consequences of attention and memory dysfunction in a number of patient populations (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and normal aging).