Michael C. Anderson

nature.comUniversal rhythmic architecture uncovers two modes of neural dynamics - Nature CommunicationsBrain oscillations are traditionally regarded as sustained rhythms. Here, the authors show that there are both high and low-rhythmicity bands, characterised by brief bursts, which can signal responses...

31 July

Oh yeah, here is the actual paper! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Michael C. Anderson@memorycontrol.bsky.social

Brilliant work by Golan Karvat redefines the spectral architecture of electrophysiological activity, expanding the identifiable bands and providing a clear definition of oscillatory/bursty bands. We propose rhythmicity as a dimension of oscillatory activity.Check it out @earlkmiller.bsky.social !

31 July

Golan Karvat@golan-neuro.bsky.social

@ayeletlandau.bsky.social @memorycontrol.bsky.social #neuroscience @mrccbu.bsky.social

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Marcus Siems

@marcussiems.bsky.social

14 Apr

„Burst-related potentials as a temporal anchor for cognition“ #preprint #neuroskyence by M.C. Schuma, @ayeletlandau.bsky.social I. Diester, @memorycontrol.bsky.social & G. Karvat osf.io/preprints/ps...

osf.ioOSF

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Alessandro Crimi

@alecrimi.bsky.social

14 Oct 2025

Review paper arguing that the #brain has a built-in mental brake that stops unwanted thoughts. Via a fronto-temporal pathway, it relies on GABA to calm mental loops. Weak brakes may underlie #PTSD, #OCD, anxiety, and #depression www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Jörn Alexander Quent

@jaquent.bsky.social

1 July 2025

Amazing #RegisteredReport led by Sumaiyah Raza from @mrccbu.bsky.social. We (again) found evidence against a memory benefit of spatial novelty. However, this time we did find a retroactive benefit of rest, which highlights that more work is needed here. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

nature.comBrain mechanisms underlying the inhibitory control of thought - Nature Reviews NeuroscienceThe capacity to prevent unwanted thoughts is important for cognitive function and mental health. Anderson et al. describe insights into the neural mechanisms of the inhibitory control of thought that ...

24 June 2025

To my complete surprise, our Nature Reviews Neuroscience review on the Brain Mechanisms Underlying the Inhibitory Control of Thought has landed on the cover! Cover art below! For an "explainer thread", see earlier tweet. bsky.app/profile/memo... @mrccbu.bsky.social #neuroskyence #memory #ptsd

Michael C. Anderson@memorycontrol.bsky.social

How does the brain stop thoughts? Find out in my article in @natrevneuro.nature.com with Subbu Subbulakshmi & Maite Crespo-Garcia www.nature.com/articles/s41... that integrates 25 yrs of psychology and neuroscience on this vital function.@mrccbu.bsky.social sky.social #neuroskyence #neuroscience

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Lucina Uddin

@lucinauddin.bsky.social

28 May 2025

When I first started working with resting state fMRI as a postdoc, there was a lot of skepticism about what we could learn from it. 20 years later, it's hard to imagine where the field of neuroscience would be without it. Here's a summary 🧠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comThe history and future of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging - NatureThis Review provides an overview of the history of resting-state functional MRI research, which has helped to reveal the spatiotemporal organization of the brain, and discusses how it can contribute f...

nature.comA network correspondence toolbox for quantitative evaluation of novel neuroimaging results - Nature CommunicationsHere, the authors present the Network Correspondence Toolbox, which enables researchers to examine and report spatial correspondence between their neuroimaging results and widely used brain atlases.

28 May 2025

This looks shockingly useful. Thanks, on behalf of the field!!

CLaE@claeneuro.bsky.social

Nature Communications A network correspondence toolbox for quantitative evaluation of novel neuroimaging results www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Nature Reviews Neuroscience

@natrevneuro.nature.com

27 May 2025

Brain mechanisms underlying the inhibitory control of thought — a Review by Michael C. Anderson, Maite Crespo-Garcia & S. Subbulakshmi @memorycontrol.bsky.social‬ www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience #neuroskyence

esforum.deIntrusive Thinking - ESForum

The participants produced an important volume on this subject that lays out the mission of addressing intrusive thoughts and its importance, from diverse perspetives. esforum.de/publications...

We hope that our integrative review of retrieval stopping will lay the groundwork for further advances in addressing the distress of intrusive thinking.

Research on inhibitory control over memory provides a rich neurocognitive framework through which to understand disordered thought control.More broadly, it complements response inhibition as a tool for understanding the control of action and thought.

Addressing intrusive thinking is a vital mission in clinical neuroscience and psychiatry. Several years ago, 40 scientists from around the world gathered in an Ernst Strugman forum on Intrusive thinking, organised by Peter Kalivas and ‪@mpwpaulus.bsky.social‬ and facilitated by Julia Lupp.

We also discuss the idea that affective stopping engages the same domain general prefrontal components as retrieval stopping, providing an account of fear extinction's benefits. @stevemaren.bsky.social en.bsky.social‬ �� joeydunsmoor.bsky.soc ocial @thephelpslab.bsky.social

Fundamentally, if neuroscience is going to inform how unwanted thoughts are controlled by the brain and address central features of psychiatric disorders, a theoretically valid construct and set of tools for measuring that construct are needed.

science.orgImproving mental health by training the suppression of unwanted thoughtsTraining people to suppress fearful thoughts improved mental health, especially for those with anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

Critically, we review evidence that retrieval stopping of unwanted thoughts plays an important role in attenuating affective responding to suppressed content, and also that training people to suppress fearful thoughts improves their mental health. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

lir-mainz.de Home | LIR Mainz - Leibniz-Institut für Resilienzforschung

These benefits of thought suppression contradict clinical wisdom about the inadvisability of thought suppression. Yet, they are consistent with the (also popular) notion that inhibitory control is fundamental to coping with perseverative thoughts and with resilience broadly. lir-mainz.de/en/home

nature.comHippocampal GABA enables inhibitory control over unwanted thoughts - Nature CommunicationsIt is not fully understood how intrusive or unwanted memories are regulated. Here the authors show that hippocampal GABA concentrations, and coupling between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hip...

For example, successful thought stopping is strongly influeced by concentrations of GABA in the hippocampus, that enable hippocampal down-regulation to occur, when people suppress retrieval. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

sciencedirect.comVariations in response to trauma and hippocampal subfield changesModels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggest that the hippocampus is key to the persistence of traumatic memory. Yet very little is known ab…

In another example, hippocampal subfield CA1 volume predicts prefrontal suppression of hippocampal activity during intrusions in a retrieval stopping task, and CA1 volume reduction also predicts intrusive symptoms in people with PTSD. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our article integrates 25 years worth of research on the cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying retrieval stoppping. Retrieval stopping shares prefrontal and striatal components with action stopping, but instead modulates hippocampal and cortical regions that represent thoughts.

To capture this fundamental difference, we introduce the concept of a FRONTO-TEMPORAL INHIBITORY CONTROL PATHWAY to capture what is distinct about mental control. This pathway has unique parameters that dictate thought stopping success that are not captured by response inhibition.

But what do we do instead? Is there another model system for inhibitory control that is conceptually relevant and well understood? YES! RETRIEVAL STOPPING. Retrieval underlies much of the thinking we do. Thoughts do not emerge from nowhere. Perceptual cues or other thoughts elicit them.

Indeed, persistent intrusive thoughts are usually retrieved in response to reminders. If so, stopping unwanted thoughts would involve recruiting inhibitory control to stop their retrieval, given a cue. This conceptualization captures every form of intrusive symptom across psychiatric disorders.

This is not a small point. Inhibitory control ability does not equate to prefrontal function. Your ability is determined by the entire circuit that implements stopping. Response inhibition measures will include influences of downstream motor circuitry irrelevant to thought stopping.

And response inhibition will NOT be influenced by parts of thought stopping circuitry unique to the latter. It's a little like testing models of audition by using a using a visual task. No matter how precise, elegant, and simple your visual task is, it's at best partially relevant to your goal.

nature.comThe role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function - NeuropsychopharmacologyNeuropsychopharmacology - The role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function

Nevertheless, the clear importance of inhibitory control has earned it a seat at the table as a construct relevant to controlling intrusive thoughts, and more broadly, as a fundamental component of executive function. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

But there is one problem. Stopping motor actions does not invoke thought inhibition, and cannot be used to identify its unique properties. Stopping actions must be achieved by affecting motor cortex; stopping thoughts, by affecting cortical areas represent the thought. The pathways must differ.

sciencedirect.comNeural mechanisms of domain-general inhibitory controlInhibitory control is a fundamental mechanism underlying flexible behavior and features in theories across many areas of cognitive and psychological s…

Inhibitory control research has exploded in the last two decades. For stopping simple actions like key presses and eye movements, we have a sophisticated understanding achieved via imaging, intracranial recording, modeling and invasive work with non-humans. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

cambridge.orgInhibitory control and psychopathology: A meta-analysis of studies using the stop signal task | Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society | Cambridge CoreInhibitory control and psychopathology: A meta-analysis of studies using the stop signal task - Volume 16 Issue 6

This work's mechanistic depth,along with simple methods of quantifying motor stopping ability, like the stop-signal task, have drawn scientists to apply its methods/lessons to understand intrusive thinking in psychiatric disorders, with variable success. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

thelancet.comThe Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental healthMental ill health, which has been the leading health and social issue impacting the lives and futures of young people for decades, has entered a dangerous phase. Accumulating research evidence indicat...

Anyone who knows someone with one of these conditions knows how debilitating intrusive thoughts can be. Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression skyrocketing in adolescents. @sjblakemore.bsky.social @tamsinford.bsky.social‬ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

So how do we stop thoughts? What does neuroscience have to say? Scientists studying intrusive thoughts have leaned on inhibitory control, a mechanism that enables us to stop. When you stop yourself from grabbing a hot pot on the stove before your burn yourself, you have inhibitory control to thank.

Indeed, in today’s world, we have much to think about; but less obviously, we also have much to NOT THINK ABOUT.The burden of things we try not to think about has grown weighty: the Ukraine war; chaotic American politics; the rise of right-wing extremism; and climate change, e.g. We all can feel it.

Critically, thought stopping is central to mental health. Intrusive thoughts are hallmark features of many disorders: Intrusive memories in PTSD; pathological worry in axiety; rumination in depression; obsessive thinking in OCD; hallucinations in schizophrenia; craving thoughts in addiction.

Why is thought stopping vital? First, concentration.We all know the challenge to remain focused, of banishing distracting thoughts. @themindwanders.bsky.social and Kalina Christoff have learned much about mind wandering. Thought stopping is our rebuttal to these excursions, a reassertion of control.

4 Apr 2025

Congratulations to Ken Paller, this year's recipient of the George Miller Award at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeeting! Superb talk on his work on sleep and memory. @cogneuronews.bsky.social @paller.bsky.social @neurosky.bsky.social

timeshighereducation.comNobelists urge rethink on MRC unit funding changesNobel laureates back calls to pause new system of Medical Research Council funding which threatens future of well-established research units

22 Jan 2025

Should the Medical Research Council end sustained funding for its internationally renowned scientific units? 600 scientists don't think so.The UK needs sustained investment in basic science and challenge-led investments. #Neuroskyence @mrccbu.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nobelis...

science.orgPlasticity of human resilience mechanismsPTSD remission is linked to improved fronto-hippocampal inhibitory mechanisms during memory control.

13 Jan 2025

Suppressing memories promotes resilience! Terrorist attack survivors who recovered from PTSD showed normalised inhibitory control of the hippocampus during retrieval stopping before intrusive memory declines, mitigating hippocampal atrophy. #memory #PTSD #neuroskyence www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

scientificamerican.comBad Sleep Lets Intrusive Thoughts Flood InFindings reveal the memory-related brain processes that generate unwanted thoughts when people are sleep deprived

10 Jan 2025

A nice piece by @sciam.bsky.social on @harrington-mo.bsky.social's recent work showing that sleep loss impairs the control of intrusive thoughts; useful comments by @marwimber.bsky.social and @zarabergstrom.bsky.social @mrccbu.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.scientificamerican.com/article/bad-...

doi.orgPrefrontally mediated inhibition of memory systems in dissociative amnesia | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge CorePrefrontally mediated inhibition of memory systems in dissociative amnesia

8 Jan 2025

Can someone forget much of their life? Yes! In Psychogenic amnesia, extreme stress leads to the loss of years of memories, including all the people the patient knows. Why? Read about what we have discovered in @laura-marsh.bsky.social‬ 's new paper or in the outstanding thread below #neuroskyence

Laura Marsh@laura-marsh.bsky.social

Happy to share our new paper on the inhibition of memory retrieval in dissociative amnesia, with @dcdace.bsky.social, Hirokazu Kikuchi, Nobuhito Abe &, Jun Kawaguchi, Mike Kopelman & @memorycontrol.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S003...

pnas.orgPNASProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

6 Jan 2025

Sleep much? I hope so! A new fMRI study with @harrington-mo.bsky.social and @sacairney.bsky.social shows how inducing sleep loss impairs the prefrontal cortex's ability to suppress unwanted memories, and suggests that REM sleep restores this function.Congrats Marcus! @sleepdiplomat.bsky.social

Marcus O. Harrington@harrington-mo.bsky.social

🚨 Our study on how sleep deprivation affects the neural correlates of memory suppression is now published in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

science.orgFunding overhaul threatens historic U.K. research unitsScientists protest new “challenge-led” grants replacing funding that supported long-term basic research

19 Dec 2024

Are you a fan with the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit? If so, read this Science story and then join the 500 scientists (inc two Nobels and two former Royal Society heads), who are asking the MRC to adjust course by signing the Open Letter linked in the story. www.science.org/content/arti...

tandfonline.comMemory control immediately improves unpleasant emotions associated with autobiographical memories of past immoral actionsThe ability to stop unwanted memories from coming to mind is theorised to be essential for maintaining good mental health. People can employ intentional strategies to prevent conscious intrusions o...

13 Nov 2024

Hello Bluesky world. I am renewing my commitment to this platform, prompted in part by the New York Times article today on this subject!

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Akul Satish

@akulsatish.bsky.social

24 Apr 2024

Our paper with showing that memory control improves immediate emotions of autobiographical memories just got published. Massive thanks to @robinhellerstedt.bsky.social, @memorycontrol.bsky.social and @zarabergstrom.bsky.social 🙏😁 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Marius Boeltzig

@mariusboeltzig.bsky.social

10 Apr 2024

Great journal club article by my friend and colleague Linn Petersdotter about @memorycontrol.bsky.social's review paper on active forgetting. Worth reading and worth following what she's up to in the future!

Nature Reviews Psychology@natrevpsychol.nature.com

Active forgetting in post-traumatic stress Journal Club by Linn Petersdotter go.nature.com/44a9lex #psychology #psychscisky

cell.comIssue: Trends in Cognitive Sciences

21 Feb 2024

Interested in how people control unwanted memories? Davide Nardo and I published a detailed guide to the Think/No-Think task in Behavior Research Methods with best practice advice, including a training package with videos, spreadsheets and code. rdcu.be/dzbwA

Michael C. Anderson reposted

Jan R. Wessel

@janw.bsky.social

6 Feb 2024

The final version of @memorycontrol.bsky.social and my article "Neural mechanisms of domain-general inhibitory control" is now featured in the current version of TiCS www.cell.com/trends/cogni... Downloadable version here: wessellab.org

26 Nov 2023

Not that anyone here needs a reason to ditch twitter, BUT...I only just noticed that my twitter timeline is full of posts by people I don't follow. This is because, as of March, Musk introduced an algorithm to do this, based on what I have liked. Aggravating. I had liked my self-curated newsfeed.

10 Nov 2023

Incredibly pleased to have @janw.bsky.social as a joint Chaucer/Zangwill club speaker here at the MRC CBU, co-sponsored with Cambridge Psychology!