Repetition effects in directed forgetting: evidence for retrieval inhibition

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted in support of a role for memory retrieval inhibition in directed forgetting. In each experiment, subjects were presented a list of words, some of which they were instructed to remember and some of which they were instructed to forget. After a recall test for all the words, the list was repeated. This time, however, all the words were presented with instructions that they be remembered. The improvement in recall from Trial 1 to Trial 2 was greater for the "forget" (F) words than for the "remember" (R) words. This difference was not due to a memorization-difficulty, item-selection effect (Experiment 2), a differential priority for rehearsal or output position given to the F items on Trial 2 (Experiment 3), or the greater number of F items left to be learned after Trial 1 (Experiment 4). Thus, the differential improvement from List 1 to List 2 for the F items was interpreted as a release of retrieval inhibition owing to the change in cue from forget to remember. © 1985 Psychonomic Society, Inc.