Investigating the contributions of neural competition to intentional forgetting and real-time neurofeedback

遗忘是一种适应性过程，它对记忆的有效性起着至关重要的作用 操作，并可以积极抑制不受欢迎的（例如不愉快或不相关的信息）的记忆，从我们的 意识在编码过程中有意遗忘不需要的记忆可以通过以下方式来实现： 前额叶控制区，通过直接抑制海马编码过程，或通过参与海马 检索过程，以替代品取代不需要的记忆。神经机制的基础 然而，故意遗忘还没有得到很好的理解--这个研究项目的目标是描述如何 通过记忆表征的神经竞争的竞争依赖学习--一种神经机制 被证明有助于偶然遗忘-解释故意遗忘。我们还建议使用实时 神经反馈（提供有关一个人的大脑活动的信息，而他们正在执行任务内， MRI扫描仪）选择性地改善或损害随后的记忆。 最近的一个理论为遗忘的潜在机制提供了令人信服的解释。该公司- 在编码和检索物品期间激活多种想法可能会导致之间的神经竞争 这些想法反过来又不利于随后对一个项目的记忆。这一发现 与学习的计算模型产生的“非单调可塑性假设”相一致。在 研究1测试了记忆编码过程中的非单调可塑性原则是否 也延伸到动机性遗忘。我们建议管理一个项目方法的有意遗忘任务， 哪些参与者将被要求记住或忘记项目取决于以下提示 项目的介绍。我们假设，“被记住”和“被记住”之间的神经竞争 “遗忘”项将导致随后对“丢失”项表示的遗忘。 竞争我们将使用功能磁共振成像数据的多变量模式分类来量化水平（即低，中或 强）的激活，以便解码或跟踪的“要忘记的”和“要记住的”项目 这些项目在每次试验中的相对强度。第一项研究的结果也使我们能够测试 腹侧颞叶皮层的神经竞争量与控制的连通性之间的关系 前额叶皮层的区域到海马体的分区，以及随后的遗忘行为。 此外，在研究2中，我们打算使用神经反馈训练来校准神经竞争的量 在记忆编码过程中产生。我们将在闭环中对编码策略进行行为修改 神经反馈系统，以改善或干扰（即诱导遗忘）随后的记忆 性能

Forgetting is an adaptive process that plays a critical role in sustaining the efficiency of mnemonic operations and can actively inhibit unwelcome (e.g. unpleasant or irrelevant information) memories from our awareness. The intentional forgetting of unwanted memories during encoding can be accomplished, via prefrontal control regions, by directly inhibiting hippocampal encoding processes, or by engaging hippocampal retrieval processes to replace the unwanted memory with substitutes. The neural mechanisms that underlie intentional forgetting, however, is not well understood -- the goal of this research project is to characterize how competition dependent learning via neural competition of memory representations – a neural mechanism shown to contribute to incidental forgetting – explains intentional forgetting. We also propose using real-time neurofeedback (providing information about a person's brain activity while they are performing tasks inside an MRI scanner) to either selectively improve or impair subsequent remembering. One recent theory provides a compelling explanation for a mechanism underlying forgetting. The co- activation of multiple thoughts during encoding and retrieval of an item can lead to neural competition between these thoughts, which in turn, are detrimental to the subsequent remembering of an item. This finding is consistent with the `non-monotonic plasticity hypothesis' generated by computational models of learning. In the following proposal, Study 1 tests whether the principle of non-monotonic plasticity during memory encoding also extends to motivated forgetting. We propose to administer an item-method intentional forgetting task in which participants will be required to either remember or forget items dependent on a cue following the presentation of the item. We hypothesize that neural competition between `to be remembered' and `to be forgotten' items will contribute to the subsequent forgetting of the item representation that `loses' the competition. We will use multivariate pattern classification of fMRI data to quantify the level (i.e. low, medium or strong) of activation for the `to be forgotten and `to be remembered' items in order to decode or track the relative strength of these items across each trial. The findings of this first study also allow us to test the relationship between the amount of neural competition in ventral temporal cortex, the connectivity from control regions in the prefrontal cortex to subdivisions of the hippocampus, and subsequent forgetting behavior. Furthermore, in Study 2, we intend to use neurofeedback training to calibrate the amount of neural competition elicited during memory encoding. We will behaviorally modify encoding strategies in a closed-loop neurofeedback system in order to improve on or interfere with (i.e. induce forgetting) subsequent memory performance.