Behavioral and neural correlates of memory suppression in subthreshold depression

Many studies have demonstrated that healthy individuals can intentionally control memory. However, little is known about the behavioral and neural mechanisms of memory control in those with subthreshold depression (SD), a highly prevalent condition associated with severe impairments and a significant social burden. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a generalized form of task-dependent psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis during the think/no-think task to examine the brain mechanism of memory suppression in SD participants. The behavioral results revealed that SD participants were unable to suppress negative memories. Neuroimaging data revealed that the SD group showed greater activation than the healthy control (HC) group in the prefrontal gyrus during memory processing. Moreover, gPPI analysis showed that the SD group had significantly lower right hippocampal functional coupling with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during negative memory suppression than the HC group. These results indicated that SD participants recruited more frontal control resources for memory suppression because of executive and prefrontal inhibitory dysfunction. However, the abnormal prefrontal–hippocampal inhibitory pathway resulted in a failure of the memory control process when the stimuli were negative. These findings provide some evidence for understanding why SD individuals have inefficient memory control of negative memories.