Memory in a Social Context by Takashi Tsukiura & Satoshi Umeda

Author:Takashi Tsukiura & Satoshi Umeda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Japan, Tokyo

8.3 Brain Mechanisms of Involuntary Memory Repression: Knowledge from Studies of Patients with Dissociative Amnesia

Although it has been elucidated that Freud’s early idea of intentional voluntary suppression of unpleasant memories exists as an active forgetting process supported by concrete brain mechanisms, the presence and nature of his subsequent idea of automatic involuntary repression had been neglected until recently. The reason for this may be quite simple: it is difficult to explicitly observe these processes. Even if the process exists, it goes unnoticed by the individual because it is an “involuntary” process, and by others without prior knowledge because both the memory and its concomitant unpleasant emotions are invisible. However, other individuals may notice and observe the forgetting induced by automatic involuntary repression in one clinical condition: “dissociative amnesia.” Here, we introduce the concept and properties of dissociative amnesia and describe the recently suggested neural mechanisms that underlie involuntary memory repression. We mainly present our own research, which provided direct and powerful evidence regarding the neural mechanisms of dissociative amnesia. Dissociative amnesia is characterized by retrieval failure; thus, this section inevitably focuses on the neural mechanisms that underlie involuntary memory repression at retrieval. It is important to note that dissociative amnesia, which likely reflects involuntary memory repression, is associated with prefrontal activation and hippocampal deactivation, similar to the neural mechanisms of voluntary memory suppression.

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