A naturalistic paradigm to investigate postencoding neural activation patterns in relation to subsequent voluntary and intrusive recall of distressing events
A naturalistic paradigm to investigate postencoding neural activation patterns in relation to subsequent voluntary and intrusive recall of distressing events
Background: while neuroimaging has provided insights into the formation of episodic memories in relation to voluntary memory recall, less is known about neural mechanisms that cause memories to occur involuntarily, for example, as intrusive memories of trauma. Here, we investigated brain activity shortly after viewing distressing events as a function of whether memories for those events later intruded involuntarily. The postencoding period is particularly important because it is a period when clinical interventions could be applied.
Methods: a total of 32 healthy volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing distressing film clips, interspersed with 5 minutes of awake (postencoding) rest. Voluntary memories of the films were assessed using free recall and verbal and visual recognition tests after a week, while intrusive (involuntary) memories were recorded in a diary throughout that week.
Results: when analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging responses related to watching the films, we replicated findings that those “hotspots” (salient moments within the films) that would later become intrusive memories elicited higher activation in parts of the brain’s salience network. Surprisingly, while the postencoding persistence of multivoxel correlation structures associated with entire film clips predicted subsequent voluntary recall, there was no evidence that they predicted subsequent intrusions.
Conclusions: results replicate findings regarding the formation of intrusive memories during encoding and extend findings regarding the consolidation of information in postencoding rest in relation to voluntary memory. While we provided a first step using a naturalistic paradigm, further research is needed to elucidate the role of postencoding neural processes in the development of intrusive memories.
960-969
Visser, Renée M.
1b1ff5ef-85bc-4e59-aa28-8cbc73101904
Henson, Richard N.
d95d1891-fd36-4fe8-af7b-1cb3ce32e594
Holmes, Emily A.
a6379ab3-b182-45f8-87c9-3e07e90fe469
5 October 2022
Visser, Renée M.
1b1ff5ef-85bc-4e59-aa28-8cbc73101904
Henson, Richard N.
d95d1891-fd36-4fe8-af7b-1cb3ce32e594
Holmes, Emily A.
a6379ab3-b182-45f8-87c9-3e07e90fe469
Visser, Renée M., Henson, Richard N. and Holmes, Emily A.
(2022)
A naturalistic paradigm to investigate postencoding neural activation patterns in relation to subsequent voluntary and intrusive recall of distressing events.
Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 7 (10), .
(doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.08.006).
Abstract
Background: while neuroimaging has provided insights into the formation of episodic memories in relation to voluntary memory recall, less is known about neural mechanisms that cause memories to occur involuntarily, for example, as intrusive memories of trauma. Here, we investigated brain activity shortly after viewing distressing events as a function of whether memories for those events later intruded involuntarily. The postencoding period is particularly important because it is a period when clinical interventions could be applied.
Methods: a total of 32 healthy volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing distressing film clips, interspersed with 5 minutes of awake (postencoding) rest. Voluntary memories of the films were assessed using free recall and verbal and visual recognition tests after a week, while intrusive (involuntary) memories were recorded in a diary throughout that week.
Results: when analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging responses related to watching the films, we replicated findings that those “hotspots” (salient moments within the films) that would later become intrusive memories elicited higher activation in parts of the brain’s salience network. Surprisingly, while the postencoding persistence of multivoxel correlation structures associated with entire film clips predicted subsequent voluntary recall, there was no evidence that they predicted subsequent intrusions.
Conclusions: results replicate findings regarding the formation of intrusive memories during encoding and extend findings regarding the consolidation of information in postencoding rest in relation to voluntary memory. While we provided a first step using a naturalistic paradigm, further research is needed to elucidate the role of postencoding neural processes in the development of intrusive memories.
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Accepted/In Press date: 11 August 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 August 2021
Published date: 5 October 2022
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 508119
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/508119
ISSN: 2451-9022
PURE UUID: 8be23544-e383-46fa-b950-58f638922ed7
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Date deposited: 13 Jan 2026 17:57
Last modified: 14 Jan 2026 03:12
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Author:
Renée M. Visser
Author:
Richard N. Henson
Author:
Emily A. Holmes
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