Feature Review
Neural mechanisms of motivated forgetting

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.03.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Motivated forgetting of unwanted memories shapes what we retain of our personal past.

  • Motivated forgetting is achieved in part by inhibitory control over encoding or retrieval.

  • Prefrontal cortex reduces hippocampal and cortical activity to suppress memories.

  • Electrophysiological activity during motivated forgetting implicates active inhibition.

  • A neurobiological model of memory control can inform disordered control over memory.

Not all memories are equally welcome in awareness. People limit the time they spend thinking about unpleasant experiences, a process that begins during encoding, but that continues when cues later remind someone of the memory. Here, we review the emerging behavioural and neuroimaging evidence that suppressing awareness of an unwelcome memory, at encoding or retrieval, is achieved by inhibitory control processes mediated by the lateral prefrontal cortex. These mechanisms interact with neural structures that represent experiences in memory, disrupting traces that support retention. Thus, mechanisms engaged to regulate momentary awareness introduce lasting biases in which experiences remain accessible. We argue that theories of forgetting that neglect the motivated control of awareness omit a powerful force shaping the retention of our past.

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