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Related Concept Videos

Retrieval01:12

Retrieval

Retrieval is the process of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness. This ability is essential for daily tasks like brushing hair and teeth, driving to work, and performing job duties. Retrieval occurs in three ways: recall, recognition, and relearning.
Recall involves accessing information without cues, such as during an essay test, where individuals must retrieve facts and concepts from memory unaided. Another example is remembering the name of a colleague...
Interference and Decay01:16

Interference and Decay

Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Forgetting01:21

Forgetting

Forgetting is an intrinsic aspect of human memory, characterized by the gradual loss or inaccessibility of information over time. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, extensively studied this phenomenon and formulated the forgetting curve. This curve illustrates that memory loss occurs rapidly immediately after learning and then decelerates over time. Several mechanisms contribute to forgetting, including encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, and interference.
Encoding...
Repressed Memory01:16

Repressed Memory

Repressed memories are a psychological phenomenon where memories of traumatic events are unconsciously blocked from a person's awareness. This process occurs as a defense mechanism, protecting the mind from the emotional impact of distressing or painful experiences. For example, a person who has experienced childhood trauma may grow up with no conscious recollection of the event. In such cases, the memories are thought to be buried deep within the subconscious, inaccessible to the conscious...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...
Traumatic Memory01:20

Traumatic Memory

Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual remembers mundane...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
07:59

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Published on: June 14, 2019

No retrieval-induced forgetting under stress.

Susanne Koessler1, Harald Engler, Carsten Riether

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.

Psychological Science
|October 13, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Psychosocial stress impairs memory inhibition, specifically abolishing retrieval-induced forgetting. This stress effect, linked to cortisol release, impacts memory recall and has broad implications.

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Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroendocrinology
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Memory recall is influenced by stress.
  • Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is a memory mechanism where recalling some information inhibits related items.
  • The impact of stress on RIF remains uninvestigated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of acute psychosocial stress on retrieval-induced forgetting.
  • To determine if stress alters the adaptive memory selection process governed by RIF.
  • To explore the relationship between stress hormones and RIF.

Main Methods:

  • Participants learned categorized word lists.
  • Exposure to a psychosocial stressor or a control condition.
  • Active retrieval practice on learned material followed by a final memory test.
  • Measurement of salivary cortisol levels and psychological well-being.

Main Results:

  • The stress group showed no retrieval-induced forgetting, unlike the control group.
  • Salivary cortisol levels significantly increased in the stress group.
  • Psychological well-being decreased in the stress group.

Conclusions:

  • Psychosocial stress abolishes retrieval-induced forgetting.
  • This effect is potentially mediated by stress-induced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hormone release.
  • Findings have implications for understanding memory under stress in educational, legal, and clinical contexts.