Directed forgetting shares mechanisms with attentional withdrawal but not with stop-signal inhibition.
To explore the mechanisms underlying the ability to intentionally forget, the present study combined an item-method directed forgetting paradigm with tasks that measure stop-signal inhibition (Experiments 1 and 2) and inhibition of return (IOR; Experiment 2). Following each study-phase instruction to remember (R) or forget (F), a target was presented centrally (Experiment 1) or to the left or right in the visual periphery (Experiment 2); the target required a speeded response that was sometimes countermanded by a central stop signal. Although stop-signal reaction times were unaffected by the preceding memory instruction (or relationship with word-target location), F instructions improved stopping and delayed responses. Replicating previous findings in the literature, significant IOR was observed following F instructions but not following R instructions (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that intentional forgetting is an active cognitive process that more likely engages attentional mechanisms related to orienting than those related to stop-signal inhibition.
Fawcett
Jonathan M
JM
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. jmfawcet@dal.ca
Taylor
Tracy L
TL
D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning