The role of romantic relationships in socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting: Cognitive and neural evidence

The current study investigated how romantic relationships affected socially shared memory in heterosexual couples. Experiment 1 explored the influence of material sharing and intimacy on shared memory. Both romantic pairs and strangers showed memory effects from retrieval practice, but socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting occurred only in romantic pairs. Experiment 2 examined differences in neural activities during dyadic retrieval practice processes between romantic and stranger pairs. Results suggested that romantic pairs exhibited distinct memory effects compared to strangers, with higher brain activation in the prefrontal cortex and greater neural synchronization. This study sheds light on social memory in romantic relationships, highlighting implications for shared memory and knowledge organization.