Dissociating the two faces of selective memory retrieval.
Research in the past four decades has repeatedly shown that selective retrieval of some (non-target) memories can impair subsequent retrieval of other (target) information, a finding known as retrieval-induced forgetting. More recently, however, there is evidence that selective retrieval can both impair and enhance recall of related memories (K-H. T. Bäuml & Samenieh, 2010). To identify possible experimental dissociations between the detrimental and the beneficial effects of memory retrieval, we examined retrieval dynamics in listwise directed forgetting, varying the delay between preceding non-target and subsequent target recall. When target recall immediately followed non-target recall, we replicated the prior work and found detrimental effects of memory retrieval on to-be-remembered items but beneficial effects on to-be-forgotten items. In contrast, when a delay was introduced between non-target and target recall, the detrimental effects were present but the beneficial effects were absent. The results demonstrate a first experimental dissociation between the two effects of memory retrieval. They are consistent with a recent two-factor account of the two faces of selective memory retrieval.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Regensburg University, Regensburg, Germany. karl-heinz.baeuml@psychologie.uni-regensburg.de
Ina M
IM
Dobler
Karl-Heinz T
KH
Bäuml
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D011939:Mental Recall; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors