IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-34091-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inducing forgetting of unwanted memories through subliminal reactivation

Author

Listed:
  • Zijian Zhu

    (Shaanxi Normal University)

  • Michael C. Anderson

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Yingying Wang

    (Zhejiang University)

Abstract

Processes that might facilitate the forgetting of unwanted experiences typically require the actual or imagined re-exposure to reminders of the event, which is aversive and carries risks to people. But it is unclear whether awareness of aversive content is necessary for effective voluntary forgetting. Disrupting hippocampal function through retrieval suppression induces an amnesic shadow that impairs the encoding and stabilization of unrelated memories that are activated near in time to people’s effort to suppress retrieval. Building on this mechanism, here we successfully disrupt retention of unpleasant memories by subliminally reactivating them within this amnesic shadow. Critically, whereas unconscious forgetting occurs on these affective memories, the amnesic shadow itself is induced by conscious suppression of unrelated and benign neutral memories, avoiding conscious re-exposure of unwelcome content. Combining the amnesic shadow with subliminal reactivation may offer a new approach to voluntary forgetting that bypasses the unpleasantness in conscious exposure to unwanted memories.

Suggested Citation

  • Zijian Zhu & Michael C. Anderson & Yingying Wang, 2022. "Inducing forgetting of unwanted memories through subliminal reactivation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34091-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34091-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34091-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-34091-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Justin C. Hulbert & Richard N. Henson & Michael C. Anderson, 2016. "Inducing amnesia through systemic suppression," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, April.
    2. Taylor W. Schmitz & Marta M. Correia & Catarina S. Ferreira & Andrew P. Prescot & Michael C. Anderson, 2017. "Hippocampal GABA enables inhibitory control over unwanted thoughts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Dace Apšvalka & Catarina S. Ferreira & Taylor W. Schmitz & James B. Rowe & Michael C. Anderson, 2022. "Dynamic targeting enables domain-general inhibitory control over action and thought by the prefrontal cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Michael C. Anderson & Collin Green, 2001. "Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control," Nature, Nature, vol. 410(6826), pages 366-369, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Leone & Charlotte Postel & Alison Mary & Florence Fraisse & Thomas Vallée & Fausto Viader & Vincent Sayette & Denis Peschanski & Jaques Dayan & Francis Eustache & Pierre Gagnepain, 2022. "Altered predictive control during memory suppression in PTSD," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Patzelt, Holger & Gartzia, Leire & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Shepherd, Dean A., 2021. "Managing negative emotions from entrepreneurial project failure: When and how does supportive leadership help employees?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    3. Li Zheng & Zhiyao Gao & Andrew S. McAvan & Eve A. Isham & Arne D. Ekstrom, 2021. "Partially overlapping spatial environments trigger reinstatement in hippocampus and schema representations in prefrontal cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Nan Chen & Zemin (Zachary) Zhong, 2024. "History and Country-of-Origin Effects," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 192-212, January.
    5. Rodrigo Araneda & Anne G De Volder & Naïma Deggouj & Laurent Renier, 2015. "Altered Inhibitory Control and Increased Sensitivity to Cross-Modal Interference in Tinnitus during Auditory and Visual Tasks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    6. Sanne Ten Oever & Alexander T. Sack & Carina R. Oehrn & Nikolai Axmacher, 2021. "An engram of intentionally forgotten information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Mihály Racsmány & Attila Keresztes & Péter Pajkossy & Gyula Demeter, 2012. "Mirroring Intentional Forgetting in a Shared-Goal Learning Situation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34091-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.