Abstract: When confronted with reminders of an unpleasant memory, people often try to prevent the unwanted memory from coming to mind. Suppression-induced forgetting (SIF) means that the attempt to prevent unwanted memories from entering awareness results in a decrease in the long-term accessibility of these memories. Previous studies indicated that the suppression of retrieval is accomplished by control mechanisms that inhibit unwanted memories. Suppressing retrieval increased engagement of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and middle frontal gyrus and concomitantly decreased engagement of the hippocampus. The degree of SIF is affected by the emotionality of information and an individual’s emotional state and training. Future studies should investigate ways to improve the therapeutic effects of SIF on clinical pathological memory based on an in-depth understanding of the neural mechanisms of SIF.

Key words: suppression-induced forgetting, emotional valence, emotional state, training