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Olfactory Context Dependent Memory: Direct Presentation of Odorants
04:47

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Published on: September 18, 2018

Does an instruction to forget enhance memory for other presented items?

Tracy L Taylor1, Jonathan M Fawcett

  • 1Dalhousie University, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 5000, Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada. ttaylor2@dal.ca

Consciousness and Cognition
|June 13, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Directed forgetting effects depend on stimulus visibility. Unattended words were better remembered when the display remained visible during the forget instruction, suggesting incidental encoding.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Directed forgetting paradigms investigate selective memory.
  • Unattended stimuli are typically less remembered than attended stimuli.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the memory effects on unattended words in a directed forgetting task.
  • To investigate the role of stimulus visibility during memory instruction.

Main Methods:

  • Item-method directed forgetting paradigm.
  • Participants attended to one of two words, instructed to Remember or Forget.
  • Recognition tests assessed memory for attended and unattended words.
  • Manipulated stimulus visibility during the memory instruction phase.

Main Results:

  • A typical directed forgetting effect was observed for attended words.
  • Unattended words showed no memory difference when the display disappeared before instruction.
  • A reverse directed forgetting effect occurred for unattended words when the display remained visible during the forget instruction.

Conclusions:

  • Incidental encoding of task-irrelevant stimuli occurs when they remain visible after a forget instruction.
  • Stimulus visibility is crucial for the impact of directed forgetting instructions on unattended items.