Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany.
University of Trier, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2020 Apr;150:92-99. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.02.008. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
Beta power increase has been suggested to be an electrophysiological marker of response inhibition during voluntary action stopping. We examined whether beta power increase accompanies inhibition in human motor memory, focusing the phenomenon of retrieval-induced forgetting that has been assumed to be the consequence of inhibition in memory. Whereas most studies on this effect comprise word materials, a variant of the retrieval-induced-forgetting paradigm exists for examining motor memory. In the present study, we recorded scalp EEG during this motor-specific variant and examined EEG oscillatory correlates of retrieval-induced slowing of motor actions. Here, forgetting occurred in the form of significant slowing when executing motor sequences in a final recall test. Participants first learned to associate memory cues to sequential finger movements, half of which were performed with the left hand and half with the right hand. They then selectively retrieval-practiced half of the items of one hand before finally memory for all items was tested. On a behavioral level, selective retrieval practice induced slower execution of the non-retrieved items of the retrieval-practiced hand in a final memory test. On a physiological level, this retrieval-induced-slowing effect was predicted by an increase of EEG beta power during retrieval practice. The results suggest that motor retrieval-induced forgetting is a consequence of inhibition in human memory.
β波功率增加被认为是自愿行为停止过程中反应抑制的一种电生理标志物。我们研究了β波功率增加是否伴随着人类运动记忆中的抑制，重点关注了被认为是记忆抑制结果的提取诱发遗忘现象。虽然关于这种效应的大多数研究都包含单词材料，但对于运动记忆，存在一种检索诱发遗忘范式的变体。在本研究中，我们在这个特定于运动的变体中记录了头皮 EEG，并检查了提取诱发运动动作减速的 EEG 振荡相关性。在这里，当在最终回忆测试中执行运动序列时，遗忘以显著减速的形式出现。参与者首先学习将记忆线索与顺序手指运动联系起来，其中一半用左手完成，一半用右手完成。然后，他们选择性地对一只手的一半项目进行检索练习，最后测试所有项目的记忆。在行为层面上，选择性检索练习在最终的记忆测试中导致检索练习手的未检索项目的执行速度变慢。在生理水平上，这种提取诱发的减速效应可以通过提取练习期间 EEG β波功率的增加来预测。结果表明，运动提取诱发的遗忘是人类记忆中抑制的结果。
