The control of long-term memory: brain systems and cognitive processes

This paper provides a selective review of controlled memory retrieval, i.e., processes, that operate on long-term stored information in the service of current goals and task demands. Binding mechanisms that combine fragments of long-term stored information in response to a retrieval cue, are central for the understanding of the interaction between a retrieval cue and memory-stored information. The paper summarizes empirical evidence showing that ERP slow waves are highly sensitive to the initiation and maintenance of retrieval orientations. It is argued that similar mechanisms of controlled memory retrieval operate in the service of successful remembering and the suppression of unwanted memories (forgetting). The mechanisms can be grouped into two classes: those that enhance retrieval cue processing (cue bias) and those that directly act on memory representations and modulate their accessibility (target bias). From a neuroanatomical point of view, the former class of processes reflects selection mechanisms for internal actions that rely on the integrity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas the second class of processes can be identified with selective attention mechanisms for which the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) plays an important role.