Suppression weakens unwanted memories via a sustained reduction of neural reactivation

Meyer, Ann-Kristin; Benoit, Roland G

doi:10.7554/elife.71309

Cited by 27Memory Processes and InfluencesMemory and Neural MechanismsCognitive Functions and Memory

Suppression weakens unwanted memories via a sustained reduction of neural reactivation

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Meyer, Ann-Kristin, Benoit, Roland G·2022·eLife

DOI 10.7554/elife.71309PMC PMC8967383

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Abstract

Aversive events sometimes turn into intrusive memories. However, prior evidence indicates that such memories can be controlled via a mechanism of retrieval suppression. Here, we test the hypothesis that suppression exerts a sustained influence on memories by deteriorating their neural representations. This deterioration, in turn, would hinder their subsequent reactivation and thus impoverish the vividness with which they can be recalled. In an fMRI study, participants repeatedly suppressed memories of aversive scenes. As predicted, this process rendered the memories less vivid. Using a pattern classifier, we observed that suppression diminished the neural reactivation of scene information both globally across the brain and locally in the parahippocampal cortices. Moreover, the decline in vividness was associated with reduced reinstatement of unique memory representations in right parahippocampal cortex. These results support the hypothesis that suppression weakens memories by causing a sustained reduction in the potential to reactivate their neural representations.

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The recall bias could be particularly pronounced in victims whose victimization experiences occurred several years ago.
“However, also considering potential memory deficits after adverse life events (Meyer & Benoit, 2022; Zoellner et al., 2019), the recall bias (Kihlstrom et al., 2000) could be particularly pronounced in victims whose victimization experiences occurred several years ago.”
From Why They Speak Up (or Don’t): Reasons For and Against Cybergrooming Disclosure Among Adolescent Victims (2025) · cites this paper as Meyer & Benoit, 2022
The Results ('Suppression renders memories less vivid'; page unavailable) report that suppressing memories of aversive scenes reduced their subsequent recall vividness, supporting the cited point that adverse material can be recalled less well. The study tested experimentally suppressed scene memories, not memory deficits following victims’ own adverse life events. The suggestion about victimization several years earlier is the citing authors’ inference, not a finding attributed specifically to Meyer and Benoit. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Authors: Meyer, A.-K., & Benoit, R. G.
Affiliations: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
Corresponding author: Meyer, Ann-Kristin
ORCID: Meyer, Ann-Kristin
Benoit, Roland G
Venue: eLife
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Published: 2022-03-30
Volume: 11
ISSN: 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.7554/elife.71309
PMC: PMC8967383
OpenAlex: W4225698209
Cited by: 27
References: 124
Citations by year: 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5
FWCI: 3.09
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (am)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (tdm)
Locations: eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: Max Planck Society
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords: memory suppression, intrusive memories, aversive memory, memory vividness, neural reactivation, reinstatement, parahippocampal cortex, memory representation
MeSH terms: Brain, Brain Mapping, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mental Recall

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Suppression weakens unwanted memories via a sustained reduction of neural reactivation

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