ISSN: 2161-0940
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Review Article - (2012) Volume 0, Issue 0
Being able to dynamically control accessibility to memories enables humans to flexibly adapt to their environment. When this control fails we become acutely aware of emotionally painful reminders of past events. Individuals suffering from some psychiatric conditions are plagued by intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts and ruminations of such memories. To gain a better understanding of this pathos, it is first essential to investigate the neural pathways that allow for control over memory accessibility in the non-psychiatric brain. To do so, a review of the neuroimaging Think/ No-Think literature is used to provide possible brain regions that contribute to the control over memory accessibility. Using these results combined with literature from comparative anatomy/neurology, a neuroanatomical model is derived that provides more specific neural detail than currently in the literature. This model highlights the importance of PFC – hippocampal interaction and the possible mechanisms by which control over memory accessibility is achieved. By understanding these details, future directions for targeting research on psychiatric conditions will hopefully be achieved.
Keywords: Anatomy, Hippocampus, Memory, Neuroimaging, Prefrontal cortex, Retrieval