title: Is retrieval success a necessary condition for retrieval-induced forgetting?
abstract: When information is retrieved from memory, it becomes more recallable than it would have been otherwise. Other information associated with the same cue or configuration of cues, however, becomes less recallable. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994) appears to reflect the suppression of competing nontarget information, with this suppression facilitating the selection of target information. But is success at such selection a necessary condition for retrieval-induced forgetting? Using a procedure in which some cues posed an impossible retrieval task for participants, we report evidence that the attempt to retrieve, even if unsuccessful, can produce retrieval-induced forgetting. This finding, we believe, supports and refines a suppression/inhibitory account of retrieval-induced forgetting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. storm@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Benjamin C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Storm
authors.forename: Elizabeth L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Bjork
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bjork
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Nestojko
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D011930:Reaction Time