Imagine  a  soldier  returning  home after  witnessing  the  challenges  of  combat. The  sounds  of  explosions  and  the  sight of  conflict  create  memories  that  are hard  to  forget  and  may  be distressing  long  after the  soldier  has  faced  a  trauma. For  this  soldier,  the  sound  of  fireworks  on 4  July  might  not  be  a  sign  of  celebration, but  serve  as  a  reminder  cue for  the  traumatic  experience. There  have  been  multiple  attempts  to help  people  who  suffer  from  PTSD overcome  the  traumatic  memories  that pull  them  back  to  what  they  strive  to  forget. This  gives  rise  to  research I  have  been  working  on  this  summer. Intrusive  thought  suppression  with FMRI  D  feedback  to prevent  unwanted  memory  recurrence. My  name  is  Angel  Tosko, and  MRS  in  Sophomore in  the  Neuro  Science  Department. PTSD  is  a  psychiatric  disorder  that  may occur  in  people  who  have experienced  or  witnessed  a  traumatic  event. One  of  the  symptoms  people  with PTSD  experience  are  intrusive  memories, defined  as  the  occurrence of  intrusive  thoughts, such  as  repeated  involuntary  memories, distressing  dreams, or  flashbacks  of  the  traumatic  event. In  the  lab,  we  can  study the  behavioral  and  neural  mechanisms  of intrusive  memories  using  the  T  noth  task. This  task  begins  with an  encoding  phase  in  which participants  learn  the  association between  two  stimuli. Then  during  the  noth  phase, participants  are instructed  to  either  think  of the  picture  or  to  not  think of  the  picture  when  they  see  the  word. Recent  work  has  shown  that  people with  PTSD  experience  more intrusions  while  trying  to  suppress target  memories  in  this  task compared  to  healthy  controls. Nearly,  we  know  that  the  act of  trying  to  suppress  a  memory  is supported  by  functional  connectivity  between the  dorsal  lateral  prefrontal  cortex or  the  DLPFC  and  the  hippocampus. During  memory  suppression,  activity  in the  DLPFC  increases  while activity  in  the  hipocampus  decreases. This  functional  connection  is disregulated  in  PTSD, making  it  a  prime  target  for  interventions. The  goal  of  the  present  study  is to  test  whether  we  can  use  real  time  and femoranural  feedback  to  strengthen the  functional  connection, supporting  retrieval  suppression. We  hypothesize  that  neural  feedback  will strengthen  the  ability  to suppress  intrusive  thoughts, as  well  as  reduce  intrusion related  symptoms  in  PTSD. In  the  real  time ephemeraural  feedback  experiment, participants  are  given  feedback about  a  specific  neural  process. Over  time,  participants are  expected  to  figure out  a  strategy  to  maximize the  amount  of  points  they  receive, and  this  will  also  lead  to a  strengthening  of  the  functional  connection. Ultimately,  we  decided  to  utilize a  stimulus  set  consisting of  short  movie  clips, which  all  contains a  predictable  climactic  ending. We  first  have  participants watch  these  videos, which  are  all  highly  memorable. Then  during  the  neuro  feedback  sessions, participants  will  view  the  movies  again, but  with  the  specific  instruction  to  suppress their  memory  for  the  ending of  the  clip  as  they  watch. Following  this  task, participants  receive  feedback on  their  performance  in suppressing  intrusive  thoughts. We  are  currently  finishing up  designed  experiment, and  we  will  proceed  with the  pilot  scans  to  confirm the  efficacy  of  our  new  design before  starting  the  data  collection  phase. I  would  like  to thank  doctor  Augustin  Hennings and  Professor  Kenneth  Norman, who  mentored  me  this  summer  and the  Office  of  Undergraduate  Resource Student  Initiated  Internship  Program for  funding  this  project.