Inhibition-Induced Forgetting Results from Resource Competition between Response Inhibition and Memory Encoding Processes.
Abstract
UNLABELLED: Response inhibition is a key component of executive control, but its relation
to other cognitive processes is not well understood. We recently documented the "inhibition-induced
forgetting effect": no-go cues are remembered more poorly than go cues. We attributed
this effect to central-resource competition, whereby response inhibition saps attention
away from memory encoding. However, this proposal is difficult to test with behavioral
means alone. We therefore used fMRI in humans to test two neural predictions of the
"common resource hypothesis": (1) brain regions associated with response inhibition
should exhibit greater resource demands during encoding of subsequently forgotten
than remembered no-go cues; and (2) this higher inhibitory resource demand should
lead to memory encoding regions having less resources available during encoding of
subsequently forgotten no-go cues. Participants categorized face stimuli by gender
in a go/no-go task and, following a delay, performed a surprise recognition memory
test for those faces. Replicating previous findings, memory was worse for no-go than
for go stimuli. Crucially, forgetting of no-go cues was predicted by high inhibitory
resource demand, as quantified by the trial-by-trial ratio of activity in neural "no-go"
versus "go" networks. Moreover, this index of inhibitory demand exhibited an inverse
trial-by-trial relationship with activity in brain regions responsible for the encoding
of no-go cues into memory, notably the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. This seesaw
pattern between the neural resource demand of response inhibition and activity related
to memory encoding directly supports the hypothesis that response inhibition temporarily
saps attentional resources away from stimulus processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:
Recent behavioral experiments showed that inhibiting a motor response to a stimulus
(a "no-go cue") impairs subsequent memory for that cue. Here, we used fMRI to test
whether this "inhibition-induced forgetting effect" is caused by competition for neural
resources between the processes of response inhibition and memory encoding. We found
that trial-by-trial variations in neural inhibitory resource demand predicted subsequent
forgetting of no-go cues and that higher inhibitory demand was furthermore associated
with lower concurrent activation in brain regions responsible for successful memory
encoding of no-go cues. Thus, motor inhibition and stimulus encoding appear to compete
with each other: when more resources have to be devoted to inhibiting action, less
are available for encoding sensory stimuli.
Type
Journal articleSubject
attentioncognitive control
memory
response inhibition
Adult
Attention
Female
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Male
Memory
Memory Disorders
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance
Reaction Time
Young Adult
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10442Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0519-15.2015Publication Info
Chiu, Yu-Chin; & Egner, Tobias (2015). Inhibition-Induced Forgetting Results from Resource Competition between Response Inhibition
and Memory Encoding Processes. J Neurosci, 35(34). pp. 11936-11945. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0519-15.2015. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10442.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Tobias Egner
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
My research focuses on the computational and neural mechanisms of cognitive control,
the use of internal goals to guide behavior. This involves understanding how people
configure and focus on a current task, and how they switch from one task to another.
We study these processes using behavioral experiments as well as computational modeling,
neuroimaging, and neurostimulation techniques.

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