title: Mastery-approach goals eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting: the role of achievement goals in memory inhibition.
abstract: The present study examined how achievement goals affect retrieval-induced forgetting. Researchers have suggested that mastery-approach goals (i.e., developing one's own competence) promote a relational encoding, whereas performance-approach goals (i.e., demonstrating one's ability in comparison with others) promote item-specific encoding. These different encoding processes may affect the degree to which participants integrate the exemplars within a category and, as a result, we expected that retrieval-induced forgetting may be reduced or eliminated under mastery-approach goals. Three experiments were conducted using a retrieval-practice paradigm with different stimuli, where participants' achievement goals were manipulated through brief written instructions. A meta-analysis that synthesized the results of the three experiments showed that retrieval-induced forgetting was not statistically significant in the mastery-approach goal condition, whereas it was statistically significant in the performance-approach goal condition. These results suggest that mastery-approach goals eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting, but performance-approach goals do not, demonstrating that motivation factors can influence inhibition and forgetting.
authors.affiliation: Nagoya University, Aichi, Japan ikeda.kenji00@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: Alan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Castel
authors.affiliation: University of Reading, UK.
authors.forename: Kou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murayama
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: achievement goals; integration effect; motivation; retrieval-induced forgetting