Prefrontally driven downregulation of neural synchrony mediates goal-directed forgetting

Simon Hanslmayr, Gregor Volberg, Maria Wimber, Nora Oehler, Tobias Staudigl, Thomas Hartmann, Markus Raabe, Mark W Greenlee, Karl-Heinz T Bäuml

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Neural synchronization between distant cell assemblies is crucial for the formation of new memories. To date, however, it remains unclear whether higher-order brain regions can adaptively regulate neural synchrony to control memory processing in humans. We explored this question in two experiments using a voluntary forgetting task. In the first experiment, we simultaneously recorded electroencephalography along with fMRI. The results show that a reduction in neural synchrony goes hand-in-hand with a BOLD signal increase in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) when participants are cued to forget previously studied information. In the second experiment, we directly stimulated the left dlPFC with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation during the same task, and show that such stimulation specifically boosts the behavioral forgetting effect and induces a reduction in neural synchrony. These results suggest that prefrontally driven downregulation of long-range neural synchronization mediates goal-directed forgetting of long-term memories.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14742-51
Number of pages10
JournalThe Journal of Neuroscience
Volume32
Issue number42
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2012

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cortical Synchronization
  • Down-Regulation
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Goals
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Prefrontal Cortex
  • Young Adult

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