Abstract
Research of the past four decades has repeatedly shown that selective retrieval of some (nontarget) 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 & A. Samenieh, 2010). To identify ...
Abstract
Research of the past four decades has repeatedly shown that selective retrieval of some (nontarget) 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 & A. 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 nontarget and subsequent target recall. When target recall followed nontarget recall immediately, 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 nontarget 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.