Encoding-related Brain Activity Predicts Subsequent Trial-level Control of Proactive Interference in Working Memory.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Psychology

Background:

• Proactive interference (PI) is a significant factor in working memory forgetting, occurring when prior knowledge hinders new learning.
• Encoding item-context associations is hypothesized to reduce PI, but direct neural evidence is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if brain activation during memory encoding predicts subsequent proactive interference during working memory retrieval.
• To explore the neural mechanisms underlying the control of PI in working memory.

Main Methods:

• Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
• Participants performed a 2-back task with 3-back lures to induce PI.
• Trial-specific parametric modulation was used to link encoding activation to retrieval performance.

Main Results:

• Higher activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left hippocampus, and bilateral caudate nucleus during encoding predicted better control of PI.
• These brain regions' activity levels were modulated by the individual's ability to manage interference.

Conclusions:

• Encoding-related neural activity in specific brain regions is a significant predictor of proactive interference control in working memory.
• Strengthening the encoding of temporal context details may be a viable strategy to enhance interference control and reduce forgetting.