To my 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 our earlier tweet. @mrccbu #memory #ptsd xitter.cf/Memory_Control/status/…

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. @StephenMaren

We integrate 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 it instead modulates hippocampal and cortical regions that represent thoughts.

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

But what do we do instead? Is there another model system for inhibitory control that is conceptually relevant and well understood? YES! RETRIEVAL STOPPING.

And response inhibition will NOT be influenced by unique parts of thought stopping circuitry. 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 the goal.

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

So how do we stop thoughts? What does neuroscience 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 before your burn yourself, you have inhibitory control to thank.

Thought stopping is central to mental health. Intrusive thoughts are key features of many disorders: Intrusive memories in PTSD; pathological worry in anxiety; rumination in depression; obsessive thinking in OCD; hallucinations in schizophrenia; craving thoughts in addiction.

Indeed, in our world, we have much to think about; but we also have much to NOT THINK ABOUT. The burden of not thinking 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.

Why is thought stopping vital? First, concentration. It can be challenging to focus, banishing distracting thoughts. @the_mindwanders , @JonathanSchool6, and @KalinaChristoff have learned much about mind wandering.Thought stopping rebuts such excursions, restoring control.