Amount of postcue encoding predicts amount of directed forgetting.
In list-method directed forgetting, participants are cued to intentionally forget a previously studied list (List 1) before encoding a subsequently presented list (List 2). Compared with remember-cued participants, forget-cued participants typically show impaired recall of List 1 and improved recall of List 2, referred to as List 1 forgetting and List 2 enhancement. In 3 experiments, we examined how amount of postcue encoding influences directed forgetting. Two results emerged dissociating List 1 forgetting from List 2 enhancement. First, an increase in amount of postcue encoding led to an increase in List 1 forgetting but did not affect List 2 enhancement. Second, the forget cue influenced all List 1 items but affected only early List 2 items. A 2-mechanism account of directed forgetting is suggested, according to which List 1 forgetting reflects reduced accessibility of List 1 items, and List 2 enhancement arises from a reset of encoding processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
Pastötter
Bernhard
B
Department of Experimental Psychology, Regensburg University, Germany.
Bäuml
Karl-Heinz
KH
D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013334:Students; D014825:Vocabulary