Multiple modes of clearing one's mind of current thoughts: Overlapping and distinct neural systems

Abstract

This study used the power of neuroimaging to identify the neural systems that remove information from working memory, a thorny issue to examine because it is difficult to confirm that individuals have actually modified their thoughts. To overcome this problem, brain activation as measured via fMRI was assessed when individuals had to clear their mind of all thought (global clear), clear their mind of a particular thought (targeted clear), or replace the current thought (replace), relative to maintaining an item in working memory. The pattern of activity in posterior sensory regions across these conditions confirmed compliance with task demands. A hierarchy of brain regions involved in cognitive control, including parietal, dorsolateral prefrontal and frontopolar regions, were engaged to varying degrees depending on the manner in which information was removed from working memory. In addition, individuals with greater difficulty in controlling internal thoughts exhibited greater activity in prefrontal brain regions associated with cognitive control, as well as in left lateral prefrontal areas including Broca’s area, which is associated with inner speech.

Questioning the role of the frontopolar cortex in multi-component behavior – a TMS/EEG study

“…This fits with findings underlining the particular importance of the FPC (BA10) for working memory processes (e.g. 33 34 ).…”

Current and future goals are represented in opposite patterns in object-selective cortex

“…One possibility is the involvement of an active cognitive control mechanism, which specifically attempts to dissociate prospectively relevant from currently relevant representations in order to prevent task interference. Such control mechanisms might be exerted through feedback connections emanating from frontal areas central to counteracting unwanted or task-irrelevant information ( Anderson et al, 2004 ; Banich et al, 2015 ; de Vries et al, 2018 ; Depue et al, 2007 ; Reeder et al, 2017 ). Interestingly, an earlier study of memory retrieval has shown suppression of voxel patterns in ventral object-related cortex which were associated with task-irrelevant memories of learned object pictures, leading to comparable patterns of representational dissimilarity as here ( Wimber et al, 2015 ).…”

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Unexpected events disrupt visuomotor working memory and increase guessing

“…This account suggests intriguing links across several disparate areas of psychology, viz. attention, working memory, surprise, response inhibition, and distractibility (Banich, Mackiewicz Seghete, Depue, & Burgess, 2015;Horstmann, 2006;Leiva, Parmentier, Elchlepp, & Verbruggen, 2015). Here we set out to more thoroughly substantiate the behavioral effect.…”