Directed forgetting benefits motor sequence encoding

Two experiments investigated directed forgetting of newly learned motor sequences. Concurrently with the list method of directed forgetting, participants successively learned two lists of motor sequences. Each sequence consisted of four consecutive finger movements. After a short distractor task, a recall test was given. Both experiments compared a forget group that was instructed to forget list-1 items with a remember group not receiving a forget instruction. We found that the instruction to forget list 1 enhanced recall of subsequently learned motor sequences. This benefit of directed forgetting occurred independently of costs for list 1. A mediation analysis showed that the encoding accuracy of list 2 was a mediator of the recall benefit, that is, the more accurate execution of motor sequences of list 2 after receiving a forget instruction for list 1 accounted for better recall of list 2. Thus, the adaptation of the list method to motor action provided more direct evidence on the effect of directed forgetting on subsequent learning. The results corroborate the assumption of a reset of encoding as a consequence of directed forgetting.