Previous research has shown that variations in the accessibility of relevant information that stem from retrieval practice may impair analogical reasoning. In the present study, we sought to examine the neural signatures of inhibitory control during selective retrieval and its effects on a subsequent analogical reasoning task by employing electrophysiological measures. At a behavioral level, we found that selective retrieval of a subset of potential solutions led to impaired performance on the analogy test. ERPs analyses during selective retrieval revealed that (1) the repeated presentation of retrieval cues was associated with decreased amplitudes for the FN400 ERP effect, possibly reflecting reduced reactivation of competitor associates and interference across retrieval attempts; (2) this effect correlated positively with the retrieval-related impairment in analogical reasoning performance. During the analogy test, the production of control solutions (non-affected by prior retrieval practice) was characterized by more positive modulations of anterior frontal and parietal ERPs than the production of unstudied solutions, whereas inhibited solutions elicited similar amplitudes to unstudied solutions. This effect was restricted to the retrieval phase of the analogy where the actual solutions had to be retrieved, but it did not affect the mapping phase where the accessibility status of the possible solutions failed to reveal significant amplitude differences. These findings suggest that control during selective retrieval may lead to the downregulation of competing memory representations and advance our understanding of the neural correlates of analogical thinking.

先前的研究表明，由于检索实践而导致的相关信息可访问性的变化可能会损害类比推理。在本研究中，我们试图研究选择性检索过程中抑制性控制的神经特征，以及其对随后通过使用电生理学方法进行类比推理任务的影响。在行为层面，我们发现选择性检索潜在解决方案的子集会导致类比测试的性能受损。选择性检索过程中的ERPs分析显示：（1）重复显示检索线索与FN400 ERP效果的幅度降低有关，这可能反映出竞争伙伴的重新激活减少以及整个检索尝试受到干扰；（2）这种影响与类推推理性能中与检索相关的损伤成正相关。在类比测试期间，对照溶液的产生（不受先前检索实践的影响）的特征在于前额叶和顶叶ERP的正调制比未经研究的溶液的产生更多，而受抑制的溶液引起的幅度与未经研究的溶液相似。这种影响仅限于类比的检索阶段，在该阶段必须检索实际解，但不影响映射阶段，在映射阶段，可能解的可访问性状态无法显示出明显的幅度差异。