Forgetting positive social feedback is difficult: ERP evidence in a directed forgetting paradigm

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Voluntary forgetting is an adaptive cognitive function.
• The impact of forgetting social feedback on memory and evaluations is not well understood.
• Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying voluntary forgetting of social feedback require investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how voluntary forgetting of social feedback influences memory and evaluations.
• To explore the neurocognitive processes involved in forgetting social feedback.
• To examine both immediate and long-term effects of memory control on social feedback.

Main Methods:

• Participants underwent a directed forgetting (DF) task with social feedback (acceptance/rejection) and "remember"/"forget" cues.
• Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded during the task.
• Memory and attitudes (explicit/implicit) were assessed immediately and 3 days post-task.

Main Results:

• A smaller DF effect was observed for positive compared to negative social feedback, indicating difficulty in forgetting positive feedback.
• Comparable frontal N2 amplitudes suggested similar inhibitory control efforts for both feedback types.
• Larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes for positive feedback during encoding indicated an encoding bias for positive self-relevant information.
• Voluntary forgetting of negative social feedback enhanced explicit and implicit evaluations of the feedback senders.

Conclusions:

• Forgetting positive social feedback is more challenging than negative social feedback.
• Voluntary forgetting of negative social feedback can positively influence social evaluations, highlighting an adaptive function in social contexts.
• Memory control mechanisms play a significant role in shaping social interactions and evaluations.