Abstract
To explore the mechanisms underlying the ability to intentionally forget, the present study combined an itemmethod directed forgetting paradigm with tasks that measure stop-signal inhibition (Experiments 1 and 2) and inhibition of return (IOR; Experiment 2). Following each study-phase instruction to remember (R) or forget (F), a target was presented centrally (Experiment 1) or to the left or right in the visual periphery (Experiment 2); the target required a speeded response that was sometimes countermanded by a central stop signal. Although stopsignal reaction times were unaffected by the preceding memory instruction (or relationship with word-target location), F instructions improved stopping and delayed responses. Replicating previous findings in the literature, significant IOR was observed following F instructions but not following R instructions (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that intentional forgetting is an active cognitive process that more likely engages attentional mechanisms related to orienting than those related to stop-signal inhibition.
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This research was funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to T.L.T. and an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship and a Killam Predoctoral Scholarship to J.M.F.
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Fawcett, J.M., Taylor, T.L. Directed forgetting shares mechanisms with attentional withdrawal but not with stop-signal inhibition. Memory & Cognition 38, 797–808 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.6.797
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.6.797