Xie Hui, Liang Jialin, Luo Yun, Chen Weimao, Hu Xiaoqing, Zhang Dandan
Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China.
Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2025 Jan 18;20(1). doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaf052.
Voluntary forgetting, governed by top-down inhibitory control in the prefrontal cortex, plays a critical role in adaptive memory regulation. This study investigated the causal role of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in the forgetting of social and non-social memories. Employing high-frequency (10 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in an offline protocol, we modulated rDLPFC activity (Active TMS condition) and compared it to a Control TMS condition targeting the vertex. Participants completed a directed forgetting (DF) task framed in social and non-social contexts. Results revealed a dissociation in rDLPFC involvement: stimulation significantly enhanced the forgetting of negative non-social memories but did not affect social memories. Furthermore, rTMS moderated the relationship between social anxiety and forgetting performance: individuals with higher social anxiety struggled to forget negative social feedback in the Control TMS condition, a difficulty alleviated by rDLPFC stimulation. These findings suggest that voluntary forgetting of social and non-social memories engages distinct neural mechanisms and highlighting rDLPFC stimulation as a potential intervention for reducing maladaptive memory biases associated with social anxiety.
由前额叶皮质自上而下的抑制性控制所支配的主动遗忘，在适应性记忆调节中起着关键作用。本研究调查了右侧背外侧前额叶皮质（rDLPFC）在社会记忆和非社会记忆遗忘中的因果作用。采用离线方案中的高频（10赫兹）重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS），我们调节了rDLPFC的活动（主动TMS条件），并将其与针对头顶的对照TMS条件进行比较。参与者完成了在社会和非社会背景下构建的定向遗忘（DF）任务。结果显示rDLPFC的参与存在分离：刺激显著增强了负面非社会记忆的遗忘，但不影响社会记忆。此外，rTMS调节了社交焦虑与遗忘表现之间的关系：社交焦虑较高的个体在对照TMS条件下难以忘记负面社会反馈，而rDLPFC刺激缓解了这一困难。这些发现表明，社会记忆和非社会记忆的主动遗忘涉及不同的神经机制，并突出了rDLPFC刺激作为一种潜在干预措施，用于减少与社交焦虑相关的适应不良记忆偏差。
