Mao Xinrui, Wang Yujuan, Wu Yanhong, Guo Chunyan
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2017 Oct 10;11:187. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00187. eCollection 2017.
Directed forgetting (DF) assists in preventing outdated information from interfering with cognitive processing. Previous studies pointed that self-referential items alleviated DF effects due to the elaboration of encoding processes. However, the retrieval mechanism of this phenomenon remains unknown. Based on the dual-process framework of recognition, the retrieval of self-referential information was involved in familiarity and recollection. Using source memory tasks combined with event-related potential (ERP) recording, our research investigated the retrieval processes of alleviative DF effects elicited by self-referential information. The FN400 (frontal negativity at 400 ms) is a frontal potential at 300-500 ms related to familiarity and the late positive complex (LPC) is a later parietal potential at 500-800 ms related to recollection. The FN400 effects of source memory suggested that familiarity processes were promoted by self-referential effects without the modulation of to-be-forgotten (TBF) instruction. The ERP results of DF effects were involved with LPCs of source memory, which indexed retrieval processing of recollection. The other-referential source memory of TBF instruction caused the absence of LPC effects, while the self-referential source memory of TBF instruction still elicited the significant LPC effects. Therefore, our neural findings suggested that self-referential processing improved both familiarity and recollection. Furthermore, the self-referential processing advantage which was caused by the autobiographical retrieval alleviated retrieval inhibition of DF, supporting that the self-referential source memory alleviated DF effects.
定向遗忘（DF）有助于防止过时信息干扰认知加工。以往研究指出，自我参照项目由于编码过程的精细化而减轻了DF效应。然而，这一现象的检索机制仍不清楚。基于识别的双加工框架，自我参照信息的检索涉及熟悉性和回忆。本研究采用源记忆任务结合事件相关电位（ERP）记录，探究了自我参照信息引发的减轻DF效应的检索过程。FN400（400毫秒时的额叶负波）是一种300 - 500毫秒的额叶电位，与熟悉性有关，而晚期正复合波（LPC）是一种500 - 800毫秒的顶叶晚期电位，与回忆有关。源记忆的FN400效应表明，自我参照效应促进了熟悉性加工，而不受待遗忘（TBF）指令的调节。DF效应的ERP结果与源记忆的LPC有关，LPC反映了回忆的检索过程。TBF指令的他人参照源记忆导致LPC效应缺失，而TBF指令的自我参照源记忆仍能引发显著的LPC效应。因此，我们的神经学研究结果表明，自我参照加工提高了熟悉性和回忆。此外，自传体检索引起的自我参照加工优势减轻了DF的检索抑制，支持自我参照源记忆减轻了DF效应。
