Research Article Dissociable Interference-Control Processes in Perception and Memory

ABSTRACT—Control over interference is a pervasive fea-ture of cognitive life. Central to research on interference control has been the identification of its underlying mech-anisms. Investigations have focused on processes that filter out distracting perceptual information, leading to nega-tive priming, and processes that discard intruding memo-ries that cause proactive interference. Theories differ regarding whether or not a single process during episodic retrieval underlies both negative priming and the resolu-tion of proactive interference. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we combined both phenomena into a single paradigm and found that occipital cortex shows activation uniquely related to negative priming, whereas activation increases in left lateral prefrontal cortex are uniquely associated with proactive interference. This pattern of results contradicts theories that rely on a single process to account for both phenomena. However, results also showed common recruitment of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal regions and therefore sug-gest that some control processes are shared. Successful cognition depends on performing goal-directed ac-tions in the face of interference. Most tasks require selective attention to some inputs and filtering out of others. In addition, most tasks require holding certain relevant thoughts in mind while shielding these from potential intrusion by irrelevant thoughts. Goal-directed actions therefore require the selection of relevant information, the deselection of irrelevant informa-tion, or both. Understanding how people are able to perform such selection and deselection is central to understanding cognition. For more than a century, inhibition has been a popular ac-count of how people are able to filter out intrusive information (for reviews, see R. Smith, 1992, and MacLeod, Dodd, Sheard, Wilson, & Bibi, 2003). The idea is that inhibition can attenuate the representation of distracting information so that it poses a reduced threat to ongoing cognition. Failures of inhibition have been associated with various disorders, including schizophreni