Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Working Memory01:24

Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this information.
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...
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...
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory01:14

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the cerebellum's...
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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Items that are subject to retrieval-induced forgetting show slowed forgetting over time.

Memory (Hove, England)·2026
Same author

Part-List Cuing Impairment in Older Adults: Evidence for Two Distinct Mechanisms.

Experimental aging research·2025
Same author

Making guesses during learning can be beneficial for older adults' memory.

Psychology and aging·2025
Same author

Reinstating memories' temporal context at encoding causes Sisyphus-like memory rejuvenation.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

The pretesting effect under divided attention.

Psychological research·2025
Same author

Interpolated pretesting can boost memory of related and distinct prose materials.

Psychological research·2024
Same journal

Testing the predictions of a distinctiveness model of memory: The production effect in backward recall.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

On the impact of adjacency on transposed-word effects under serial presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

It's time to opt out: Metacognitive analysis of time regulation under uncertainty.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

The role of statistical learning in attentional guidance during search through naturalistic scenes.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Representing objects and features in long-term memory: A case for direct feature-feature binding.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Crossmodal correspondences influence adaptation during rule-based category learning of objects.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
07:01

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment

Published on: September 20, 2020

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict retrieval-induced forgetting.

Alp Aslan1, Karl-Heinz T Bäuml

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, Regensburg University, Regensburg, Germany. alp.aslan@psychologie.uni-regensburg.de

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|November 25, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Higher working memory capacity (WMC) is linked to greater retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) in young adults. This suggests executive control processes, influenced by WMC, underlie RIF and memory suppression.

More Related Videos

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
09:05

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
07:01

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment

Published on: September 20, 2020

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
09:05

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is a phenomenon where recalling specific information impairs memory for related, non-retrieved information.
  • RIF is often explained by inhibitory executive-control processes that suppress competing memory representations.
  • The role of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) in RIF remains an area of investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) in young adults.
  • To determine if WMC influences the degree of RIF observed.
  • To test the inhibitory executive-control account of RIF.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed working memory capacity (WMC) using the operation span task.
  • Measured retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) by selectively retrieving subsets of previously studied information.
  • Compared RIF effects between individuals with high and low WMC.

Main Results:

  • A positive correlation was found between WMC and RIF.
  • Individuals with higher WMC exhibited significantly more RIF than those with lower WMC.
  • Memory enhancement for retrieved items was consistent across all WMC levels.

Conclusions:

  • Working memory capacity (WMC) is positively related to retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF).
  • These findings support the role of inhibitory executive-control processes, modulated by WMC, in RIF.
  • Individual differences in WMC are crucial for understanding memory suppression mechanisms.