It's easier to forget what you want: Directed forgetting of chosen and unchosen words

In item-method directed forgetting (DF), participants are instructed to either remember or forget individual items in a study list. When memory for all items is tested, memory is better for remember than for forget items: the DF effect. Research has shown repeatedly that when participants can choose items for re-study, honoring those choices results in superior memory. In a series of experiments examining whether choice influences DF, participants completed an initial choice phase in which they selected words that they wanted to study. In Experiments 1 and 2, the study phase honored half of their choices (remember cues for chosen items, forget cues for non-chosen items), but dishonored half of their choices. Results show that item choice strongly influences DF, with a larger magnitude DF effect when choices are honored compared to control items. Remarkably, dishonored choices resulted in a reversed DF effect: higher recognition of forget-cued than remember-cued words. Experiment 3 showed that the effect did not replicate in participants who received yoked participants' choices, and Experiment 4 showed that although the larger DF effect for honored choices (relative to control) dissipated after a delay, the DF effect for dishonored choices was eliminated (although not reversed). Experiment 5 suggested that participants may consider different information if choosing items they do not want to study (rather than ones they do want to study), resulting in similar (smaller) DF effects for honored and dishonored choices. The roles of choice and reminding in preventing forgetting are discussed.