# Biasing the Forgetting of Visual Memories

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2020 · $372,164

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY. The factors governing what we will remember and what we will forget from each day
have a profound importance for our success in everyday life. Recent evidence suggests that moderate (vs.
weak or strong) neural activation of a memory in visual processing regions of the brain can trigger inhibition
that weakens the memory and leads to forgetting. The brain networks and cognitive factors involved in this
process are poorly understood at this time. The overarching goal of this proposal is to understand the factors
that influence activation-dependent forgetting, and to evaluate whether people can exploit this mechanism to
improve their memory. The project will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and state-of-the-art
analysis techniques (multivariate pattern analyses, neurofeedback) to measure memory activations from
moment to moment and link this to behavior outcomes in tests of learning and memory. Specific Aim 1 will test
whether memory activations can be biased intentionally to forget specific memories. We will also use fMRI
neurofeedback – a procedure in which online feedback of neural activation is provided to the participant for the
purpose of self-regulation – to evaluate whether people can learn to calibrate the strength of memory activation
to selectively promote forgetting or remembering. Specific Aim 2 will test how contextual factors automatically
bias memory activation and thereby influence learning and memory processes. Forgetting is adaptive when it
helps us learn regularities in our environment, and we hypothesize that multiple aspects of context interact to
bias memory activation to guide adaptive forgetting. Specific Aim 3 will test whether uncertainty about the
behavioral relevance of information in working memory will bias neural activations and produce unintentional
forgetting. Strategically reorganizing the contents of working memory in response to task demands causes the
activation of memory items to wax and wane, and we will evaluate whether this produces memories that linger
with moderate levels of activation and thus become vulnerable to weakening and forgetting. Understanding the
deliberate and automatic factors that bias activation-dependent forgetting could change the field's view of both
remembering and forgetting, and it could lay the foundation for neurologically inspired training and therapy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9875464
- **Project number:** 5R01EY028746-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $372,164
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-03-01 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9875464

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9875464, Biasing the Forgetting of Visual Memories (5R01EY028746-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9875464. Licensed CC0.

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