Clearing out the clutter: how people retain important information from memories

Removing information from memories may help people retain what they want to remember. Studies focus on how the brain removes information by subconsciously not paying attention to these details, but sometimes there is a need to consciously remove unneeded details from memories. This is especially true when details in a memory are perceptibly harmful and lead to, for example, people combating rumination, intrusive negative thoughts, or hallucinations. In a new JNeurosci paper, Jiangang Shan and Bradley Postle, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explored how the brain actively removes unneeded memory content. 

The researchers recorded the brain activity of nearly 30 study participants as they performed a memory task. In this task, participants were initially given two items to remember. Experimental conditions either did or did not encourage participants to actively remove the memory of one of these items. Following these conditions, they were given a third item to remember. Finally, participants were tested on their memory of the relevant first and final items. The findings indicate a mechanism linked to consciously removing information from a memory: less excitable brain circuits that initially process unneeded memory content. 

### 

Please contact media@sfn.org for full-text PDF. 

About JNeurosci 

JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.