Neurogenesis-mediated forgetting minimizes proactive interference

By Jonathan R. Epp, Rudy Silva Mera, S. Köhler, Sheena A. Josselyn, Paul W. Frankland. 2016

198 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Established memories may interfere with the encoding of new memories, particularly when existing and new memories overlap in content. By manipulating levels of hippocampal neurogenesis, here we show that neurogenesis regulates this form of proactive interference. Increasing hippocampal neurogenesis weakens existing memories and, in doing so, facilitates the encoding of new, conflicting (but not non-conflicting) information in mice. Conversely, decreasing neurogenesis stabilizes existing memories, and impedes the encoding of new, conflicting information. These results suggest that reduced proactive interference is an adaptive benefit of neurogenesis-induced forgetting. New neurons are continuously produced throughout adulthood in the hippocampus. Here the authors provide evidence that adult hippocampal neurogenesis weakens existing memories, and facilitates the encoding of new, confliction information in mice.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Qian Li
2. Yi Zhong
3. Liyuan Wang
4. Blake Aaron Richards
5. Paul W. Frankland
6. Xuchen Zhang
7. Jan Born

In Developmental Neuroscience

1. Blake Aaron Richards
2. Liyuan Wang
3. Paul W. Frankland

Citations in the corpus

• Genetic dissection of mutual interference between two consecutive learning tasks in Drosophila (2022, background): “Although Pro- I in the current work only occurs when the interval between two tasks is less than 20 min, the phenomenon of ProI varies across biological learning systems and tasks (Crossley et al., 2019; Epp et al., 2016; Jonides and Nee, 2006).”
• The Persistence and Transience of Memory. (2017, methodology): “Consistent with this idea, recent studies provide evidence that forgetting is necessary for flexible behavior in dynamic environments (Dong et al., 2016; Epp et al., 2016; Shuai et al., 2010).”
• Impact of microbiota on central nervous system and neurological diseases: the gut-brain axis (2019, background): “which is known for memory, and increased neurogenesis in this area weakens established memory but facilitates the encoding of new conflicting information in mice [97].”