Heart rate variability predicts control over memory retrieval.
Abstract
Stopping retrieval of unwanted memories has been characterized as a process that requires inhibition. However, little research has examined the relationship between control over memory retrieval and individual differences in inhibitory control. Higher levels of resting heart rate variability (HRV) are associated with greater inhibitory control, as indicated by better performance on a number of cognitive, affective, and motor tasks. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that higher levels of resting HRV predict enhanced memory inhibition as indexed by performance on the think/no-think task. Efforts to suppress no-think word pairs resulted in impaired recall for those items, as in past studies. Moreover, higher levels of resting HRV were associated with more successful suppression, as indicated by lower recall of the to-be-avoided stimuli relative to baseline stimuli. These findings are among the first to suggest that physiological markers of inhibitory control can be used to index a person’s capacity to control unwanted memories.
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High heart rate variability increases control over memory and helps suppress unwanted memories, while low heart rate variability worsens performance in short and long-term verbal memory.
“High HRV increases control over memory and helps suppress unwanted memories (Gillie et al., 2014), while low HRV worsens performance in short and long-term verbal memory (Frewen et al., 2013).”
From Remembering what did not happen: the role of hypnosis in memory recall and false memories formation (2025) · cites this paper as Gillie et al., 2014
Resting-state HRV is associated with cognitive performance.
“resting-state HRV is associated with cognitive performance (Hansen et al., 2003; Frewen et al., 2013; Gillie et al., 2014; Zeki Al Hazzouri et al., 2014; Colzato et al., 2018)”
From Dose-Response Matters! - A Perspective on the Exercise Prescription in Exercise-Cognition Research (2019) · cites this paper as Gillie et al., 2014
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Morokuma, S., Michikawa, T., Kato, K., Sanefuji, M., Shibata, E., Tsuji, M., Senju, A., Kawamoto, T., Ohga, S., & Kusuhara, K. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34231-y · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Resting state heart rate variability and false memories
Feeling, N., Williams, D. P., Speller, L. F., Loftus, E. F., Koenig, J., & Thayer, J. F. (2021) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.08.009 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“…studies also support this notion; in one study of participants who were instructed to learn and then forget pairings of words (via a standard think-no-think task), those with higher resting vmHRV successfully suppressed memories for words they were instructed to forget (Gillie et al., 2014).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSelf-citationAlfonso, C., & Capdevila, L. (2022) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.13094 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Pruneti, C. A., Ferrari, S., & Guidotti, S. (2023) · Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology · doi:10.1123/jcsp.2022-0016 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Batselé, É., Stefaniak, N., & Fantini‐Hauwel, C. (2018) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.020 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
The Associations Among Parent Anxiety, Emotion Regulation, and Parenting Behaviors
McCurdy, B. H., Scott, B. G., & Weems, C. F. (2022) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-022-02389-9 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“Studies have found that individuals with higher resting HRV, compared to those with lower resting HRV, could produce context-appropriate emotional responses, such as suppressing unwanted thoughts and inhibitory control (Gillie et al., 2014; Ottaviani et al., 2018; Thayer et al., 2012).”
BackgroundHou, C.-J., Chen, Y.-T., Capilayan, M., Huang, M., & Huang, J.-J. (2022) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app12094164 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Evaluating heart rate variability as a predictor of the influence of lying on memory
Paige, L. E., Wolf, J. M., & Gutchess, A. H. (2020) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2020.1849307 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Heart Rate Variability Predicts Older Adults’ Avoidance of Negativity
Mantantzis, K., Schlaghecken, F., & Maylor, E. A. (2020) · The Journals of Gerontology: Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/gby148 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“In young adults, high levels of resting HRV have been found to primarily predict inhibitory control (Stenfors, Hanson, Theorell, & Osika, 2016), including improved memory suppression in a think/no-think paradigm (Gillie et al., 2014), inhibition of prepotent responses (Krypotos, Jahfari, van Ast, Kindt, & Forstmann, 2…”
BackgroundInfluentialFishback, G. M., Chriki, L. S., Thayer, J. F., & Vasey, M. W. (2020) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.569359 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citationTrusting your heart: Long-term memory for bad and good people is influenced by resting vagal tone
Mattarozzi, K., Colonnello, V., Thayer, J. F., & Ottaviani, C. (2019) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2019.102810 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citationRemembering what did not happen: the role of hypnosis in memory recall and false memories formation
Leo, D. G., Bruno, D., & Proietti, R. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1433762 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Bögge, L., COLÁS-BLANCO, I., Ferragu, J., Gaston‐Bellegarde, A., Corte, V. L., & Piolino, P. (2024) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.14588 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Losing control: sleep deprivation impairs the suppression of unwanted thoughts
Harrington, M. O., Ashton, J. E., Sankarasubramanian, S., Anderson, M. C., & Cairney, S. A. (2019) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1101/813121 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Heart Rate Variability in Mental Health and Psychotherapy
Wendt, J., & Thayer, J. F. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198888727.003.0004 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationInfluence of age on the effects of lying on memory
Paige, L. E., Fields, E. C., & Gutchess, A. H. (2018) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2018.10.002 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Patron, E., Munafò, M., Benvenuti, S. M., Stegagno, L., & Palomba, D. (2020) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00855 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Under competitive conditions, individuals classified as Type A have been reported to display larger cardiovascular responses (i.e., elevated HR and BP reactions) to laboratory and environmental challenges (Van Egeren et al., 1978; Dembroski et al., 1979; Glass et al., 1980; Chida and Hamer, 2008).”
BackgroundBetter forbearance, lower depression: Evidence based on heart rate variability
Su, T., Guo, X., Liu, M., Xiao, R., & Xiao, Z. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1019402 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Studies have found a negative relationship between HF and perceived emotional stress; reduced HF levels also reflect poor emotional inhibition (Gillie et al., 2014).”
BackgroundSuppression‐Induced Forgetting as a Model for Repression
Wessel, I. (2023) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.12684 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Associations between cardiac autonomic function and cognition across the adult female lifespan
Duval, A., & Ditto, B. (2025) · Autonomic Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2025.103316 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Pompeo, I. D., Marcaccio, M., Migliore, S., & Curcio, G. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1640286 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Opera trainees’ cognitive functioning is associated with physiological stress during performance
Motamed Yeganeh, N., McKee, T., Werker, J. F., Hermiston, N., Boyd, L. A., & Cui, A.-X. (2024) · Musicae Scientiae · doi:10.1177/10298649231184817 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Although previous research has shown that HRV is related to verbal (Gillie et al., 2014) but not visual memory (Shah et al., 2011), we found no relation between HRV and verbal memory in our study, and a negative relationship between resting-state SDNN and visual memory.”
BackgroundTackling addictive behaviors through memory suppression: A scoping review and perspective
Almeida‐Antunes, N., Sampaio, A., Crego, A., & López‐Caneda, E. (2024) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.15381 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Keen, L., Tan, A. Y., & Abbate, A. (2020) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.06.013 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Borderline Personality Disorder and the Heart
Boldrini, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28008-6_25 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Sharma, N., & Shenoy, S. (2023) · NeuroRegulation · doi:10.15540/nr.10.2.78 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Although these studies have focused on long-term memory (Gillie et al., 2014) or verbal memory (Frewen et al., 2013; Shah et al., 2011).”
InfluentialRominger, C., Perchtold‐Stefan, C. M., Benedek, M., Fink, A., Weber, B., & Schwerdtfeger, A. R. (2025) · Creativity Research Journal · doi:10.1080/10400419.2025.2586721 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The Influence of Kapalabhati on Working Memory and Phasic Heart Rate Variability
Budhi, R. B., & Singh, D. (2024) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.61027 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Studies showed that people with a higher tonic HRV perform better on cognitive and executive [9-11] tasks compared to people with a lower tonic HRV [12,13].”
BackgroundLeikauf, J. E., Griffiths, K. R., Clarke, S. D., Kohn, M. R., & Williams, L. M. (2025) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2025.07.007 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Tikhonoff, V., Casiglia, E., Albertini, F., Gasparotti, F., Lapenta, A. M., & Spinella, P. (2019) · Psychology · doi:10.4236/psych.2019.107065 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“In different analyses, higher resting HR variability predicted enhanced memory inhibition, and lower HR variability was associated with higher risk of future functional decline in older adults [11,12].”
BackgroundHer, H., Ugarte, E., Weissman, D. G., Robins, R. W., Guyer, A. E., & Hastings, P. D. (2024) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.70012 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Heart rate variability as an indicator of brain health in neurodegeneration
Kubra, G., & Raza, M. L. (2025) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2025.04.007 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Pellet-Bourgeois, G., Laulan, P., Fessler, L., & Lebon, F. (2025) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102974 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Salsano, I., Giulietti, G., Ottaviani, C., Tain, R., Williams, D. P., Antonucci, G., Santangelo, V., & Thayer, J. F. (2025) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.113249 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationIntegrating Yoga and Self-Psychology: An Open-Trial Pilot Study
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Borderline Personality Disorder and the Heart
Boldrini, A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90305-7_25-1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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Taking Human Performance to the Next Level (with FLARE)
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“The neurovisceral integration model (NvIM) suggests that vagally mediated HRV (vmHRV) represents a psychophysiological index of cognitive inhibitory control and thus is associated with emotion regulation capacity [25, 28, 29].”
BackgroundEffects of heart rate variability and blood pressure on cognition in healthy and clinical cohorts
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Notes on the implementation of the multilayered finite plate element RMZC in PSU code
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Stress Reactivity as a Predictor of Emotional Eating
Ohrt, T. K. (2016)
Der erlebte Körper und der Körper der Naturwissenschaft
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Vaasanthi, S., Chandregowda, N., KrishnaPrasad, B., Sathyaprabha, T. N., & Udupa, K. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4779752/v1
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“Interestingly, studies of auditory memory-related interference control show similar correlations with vmHRV as in our study (Gillie et al. 2014; Feeling et al. 2021; Magnon, Mille, et al. 2022; Magnon, Vallet, et al. 2022).”
Abbaraju, V., Lees, T., Cho, M. J., Emadi, R., Lin, D. J., Berkebile, J. A., Lee, N., Nawfel, J. L., Dougherty, R. M., Dunayev, R., et al. (2025) · IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1109/tbme.2025.3622916
“Higher resting vagally mediated—i.e., high-frequency HRV, an index of PNS activity—is associated with better working memory performance [15] and the successful suppression of unwanted memories [16].”
Cheng, X., Xue, N., Zhang, Y., & Ding, J. (2026) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00460.2025
- Authors
- Gillie, B. L., Vasey, M. W., & Thayer, J. F.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-12-13
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 458-465
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2146872222
- Cited by
- 95
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 3.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- heart rate variability, inhibitory control, memory retrieval, memory suppression, Think/No-Think task, unwanted memories, individual differences, physiological markers
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Heart Rate, Humans, Individuality, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Mental Recall, Young Adult, Executive Function
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