The relationship between retrieval-induced forgetting, anxiety, and personality

Abstract Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that the retrieval of a memory trace suppresses the retrieval of rival memory traces, and there is evidence that RIF reflects the effects of cognitive inhibition. The Attentional Control Theory (ACT) postulates that cognitive inhibition will be impaired by a high level of state anxiety, but the effect of anxiety on RIF has not previously been investigated. A sample of 116 participants were tested on the RIF procedure, and were also administered the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory and the Big Five Personality Inventory. The results indicated a significant negative correlation between RIF scores and state anxiety, and a significant positive correlation between RIF scores and extraversion. However, a multiple regression analysis identified extraversion as the main predictor of RIF performance. None of the other personality factors correlated with RIF scores. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the ACT.     

Retrieval-practice task affects relationship between working memory capacity and retrieval-induced forgetting

Retrieving a subset of items from memory can cause forgetting of other items in memory, a phenomenon referred to as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). Individuals who exhibit greater amounts of RIF have been shown to also exhibit superior working memory capacity (WMC) and faster stop-signal reaction times (SSRTs), results which have been interpreted as suggesting that RIF reflects an inhibitory process that is mediated by the processes of executive control. Across four experiments, we sought to further elucidate this issue by manipulating the way in which participants retrieved items during retrieval practice and examining how the resulting effects of forgetting correlated with WMC (Experiments 1–3) and SSRT (Experiment 4). Significant correlations were observed when participants retrieved items from an earlier study phase (within-list retrieval practice), but not when participants generated items from semantic memory (extra-list retrieval practice). These results provide important new insight into the role of executive-control processes in RIF.     

Are the inhibitory and faciliatory effects during retrieval of semantically related items present in amnestic mild cognitive impairment?

Prefrontal functions subserve inhibition control for retrieval of semantically related items inducing forgetting 19 a-MCI patients and 29 controls underwent neuropsychological evaluation and retrieval-practice paradigm (RPP) to estimate baseline remember (BR), retrieval-induced facilitation (FAC) and retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). A-MCI patients underwent also 3 T-MRI to assess relationship between regional grey matter (rGM) volumes and RPP indexes Behaviourally, RIF and FAC were both observed controls, while RIF only was observed in a-MCI patients. In patients but not in controls, RIF was associated with cognitive efficiency and FAC with memory performance. Patients showed also associations between BR and rGM volumes in the precuneus, no association was found between rGM volumes and RIF and FAC. A-MCI patients did not benefit from repeated practice during retrieval of studied items, which is likely due to their memory disorder. In contrast, patient cognitive efficiency would drive retrieval suppression of interfering stimuli.     

Theta oscillations predict the detrimental effects of memory retrieval

Retrieving a target item from episodic memory typically enhances later memory for the retrieved item but causes forgetting of competing irrelevant memories. This finding is termed retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) and is assumed to be the consequence of an inhibitory mechanism resolving retrieval competition. In the present study, we examined brain oscillatory processes related to RIF, as induced by competitive memory retrieval. Contrasting a competitive with a noncompetitive retrieval condition, we found a stronger increase in early evoked theta (4–7 Hz) activity, which specifically predicted RIF, but not retrieval-induced enhancement. Within the cognitive framework of RIF, these findings suggest that theta oscillations reflect arising interference and its resolution during competitive retrieval in episodic memory. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://cabn.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

Noncompetitive retrieval practice causes retrieval-induced forgetting in cued recall but not in recognition

Retrieving a subset of learned items can lead to the forgetting of related items. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) can be explained by the inhibition of irrelevant items in order to overcome retrieval competition when the target item is retrieved. According to the retrieval inhibition account, such retrieval competition is a necessary condition for RIF. However, research has indicated that noncompetitive retrieval practice can also cause RIF by strengthening cue–item associations. According to the strength-dependent competition account, the strengthened items interfere with the retrieval of weaker items, resulting in impaired recall of weaker items in the final memory test. The aim of this study was to replicate RIF caused by noncompetitive retrieval practice and to determine whether this forgetting is also observed in recognition tests. In the context of RIF, it has been assumed that recognition tests circumvent interference and, therefore, should not be sensitive to forgetting due to strength-dependent competition. However, this has not been empirically tested, and it has been suggested that participants may reinstate learned cues as retrieval aids during the final test. In the present experiments, competitive practice or noncompetitive practice was followed by either final cued-recall tests or recognition tests. In cued-recall tests, RIF was observed in both competitive and noncompetitive conditions. However, in recognition tests, RIF was observed only in the competitive condition and was absent in the noncompetitive condition. The result underscores the contribution of strength-dependent competition to RIF. However, recognition tests seem to be a reliable way of distinguishing between RIF due to retrieval inhibition or strength-dependent competition.     

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting and Executive Control

ABSTRACT— Retrieving information from long-term memory can lead people to forget previously irrelevant related information. Some researchers have proposed that this retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) effect is mediated by inhibitory executive-control mechanisms recruited to overcome interference. We assessed whether inhibition in RIF depends on executive processes. The RIF effect observed in a standard retrieval-practice condition was compared to that observed in two different conditions in which participants had to perform two concurrent updating tasks that demanded executive attention. Whereas the usual RIF effect was observed when retrieval practice was performed singly, no evidence of forgetting was found in the dual-task conditions. Results strongly suggest that inhibition involved in RIF is the result of executive-control processes.     

Forgetting the unforgotten affective autobiographical memories in nonclinical dissociators

Inefficient memory inhibition has been observed in nonclinical and clinical dissociators. Paradoxically, dissociators also report unusual forgetfulness. Investigating how forgetting emerges in dissociators may uncover the antecedents for their self-report memory problems. We postulated that set switch can link inefficient memory inhibition to forgetting. Recollection detour, which involves an affect switch, may elicit forgetting of previously uninhibited memories in nonclinical dissociators. This hypothesis was verified in participants with high- and low-dissociation proneness via a retrieval practice paradigm using positive and negative autobiographical memories. After the study and retrieval-practice phases, memories of the practiced affect category were tested without and with intervening recall of the unpracticed affect category in the control and detour condition, respectively. Nondissociators showed reduced recall in the control condition, replicating the retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) effect and recollection detour did not alter the RIF effect. By contrast, nonclinical dissociators showed the RIF effect in the detour condition but not in the control condition. Detour to recollecting memories of another affect category rendered an aftereffect of forgetting of previously uninhibited memories in nonclinical dissociators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Retrieval-induced forgetting of arithmetic facts

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is a widely studied phenomenon of human memory, but RIF of arithmetic facts remains relatively unexplored. In 2 experiments, we investigated RIF of simple addition facts (2 + 3 = 5) from practice of their multiplication counterparts (2 × 3 = 6). In both experiments, robust RIF expressed in response times occurred only for high-strength small-number addition facts with sums ≤ 10, indicating that RIF from multiplication practice was interference dependent. RIF of addition-fact memory was produced by multiplication retrieval (2 × 3 = ?) but not multiplication study (2 × 3 = 6), supporting an inhibitory mechanism of RIF in arithmetic memory. Finally, RIF occurred with multiplication practiced in word format (three × four) and addition tested later in digit format (3 + 4), which provides evidence that digit and written-word formats for arithmetic accessed a common semantic retrieval network. The results support the view that addition and multiplication facts are stored in an interrelated semantic network and that RIF of competing addition facts is an intrinsic process of multiplication fact retrieval.     

Inhibitory processes in memory are impaired in schizophrenia: Evidence from retrieval induced forgetting

Schizophrenic patients are known to exhibit inhibitory impairments in response suppression and selective attention. However, the impairment of inhibitory control in memory retrieval has not clearly been documented. In two experiments, we investigate inhibition in memory retrieval by using the retrieval practice procedure. In Expt 1, a cued recall final test was used. Consistent with previous research, we found similar retrieval‐induced forgetting (RIF) effects in schizophrenic patients and in controls. However, these effects could be the result of interference/blocking or the results of inhibition. In order to reduce the influence of blocking in Expt 2, we used a recognition test. We found that RIF was reduced in patients, compared to healthy controls. The elimination of RIF effect in patients, when the influence of blocking is reduced, indicates that inhibitory processes in memory are altered in schizophrenia. Result suggest that schizophrenic patients suffer from critical impairments in inhibitory processes involved in memory retrieval, similar to the inhibitory deficits found in other cognitive domains.     

Forgetting motor programmes: Retrieval dynamics in procedural memory

When motor sequences are stored in memory in a categorised manner, selective retrieval of some sequences can induce forgetting of the non-retrieved sequences. We show that such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) occurs not only in cued recall but also in a test assessing memory indirectly by providing novel test cues without involving recall of items. Participants learned several sequential finger movements (SFMs), each consisting of the movement of two fingers of either the left or the right hand. Subsequently, they performed retrieval practice on half of the sequences of one hand. A final task then required participants to enter letter dyads. A subset of these dyads corresponded to the previously learned sequences. RIF was present in the response times during the entering of the dyads. The finding of RIF in the slowed-down execution of motor programmes overlapping with initially trained motor sequences suggests that inhibition resolved interference between procedural representations of the acquired motor sequences of one hand during retrieval practice.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting in recognition is absent under time pressure

We examined retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) in recognition from a dual-process perspective, which suggests that recognition depends on the outputs of a fast familiarity process and a slower recollection process. In order to determine the locus of the RIF effect, we manipulated the availability of recollection at retrieval via response deadlines. The standard RIF effect was observed in a self-paced test but was absent in a speeded test, in which judgments presumably depended on familiarity more than recollection. The findings suggested that RIF specifically affects recollection. This may be consistent with a context-specific view of retrieval inhibition.     

Target strength and retrieval-induced forgetting in semantic recall

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) occurs when practice of a memory item impairs retrieval of related, unpracticed items. Here, we demonstrated that RIF in semantic memory is retrieval dependent. University students either studied (7 × 8 = 56) or retrieved (7 × 8 = ?) the answers to a set of multiplication problems for 40 blocks and then were tested on their addition counterparts (7 + 8 = ?). For the retrieval practice group, but not the study practice group, response time for the multiplication-practiced addition facts was about 100 msec slower, relative to control addition problems, in the first of five postpractice addition blocks. Subsequent blocks of addition were interleaved with retrieval blocks of all the multiplication counterparts, which permitted measurement of RIF for the control addition problems after only a single retrieval of their multiplication counterparts. The control problems presented RIF in excess of 200 msec, much larger than the RIF observed after massive practice. This is consistent with the hypothesis that inhibition of competitors should be weaker when target strength is high than when target strength is only moderate (Anderson, 2003; Norman, Newman, &; Detre, 2007). The evidence that RIF in semantic retrieval is both retrieval dependent and weaker following massive target practice than following moderate target practice provides strong support for inhibition-based theories of RIF.     

A neural network model of retrieval-induced forgetting

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that retrieving a memory can impair subsequent recall of related memories. Here, the authors present a new model of how the brain gives rise to RIF in both semantic and episodic memory. The core of the model is a recently developed neural network learning algorithm that leverages regular oscillations in feedback inhibition to strengthen weak parts of target memories and to weaken competing memories. The authors use the model to address several puzzling findings relating to RIF, including why retrieval practice leads to more forgetting than simply presenting the target item, how RIF is affected by the strength of competing memories and the strength of the target (to-be-retrieved) memory, and why RIF sometimes generalizes to independent cues and sometimes does not. For all of these questions, the authors show that the model can account for existing results, and they generate novel predictions regarding boundary conditions on these results.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting in young children

A prominent theory of cognitive development attributes the poor performance that children show in many cognitive tasks to a general lack of inhibitory control. We tested this theory by examining children’s inhibitory capabilities in retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), a memory task in which selective retrieval of previously studied material causes forgetting of related, nonretrieved material. Such forgetting is often attributed to inhibitory control processes, which supposedly suppress the nonretrieved items’ memory representation. We examined RIF in kindergartners, second graders, and adults, using both recall and recognition testing. Although all three age groups showed significant RIF in recall, only adults and second graders, but not kindergartners, showed RIF in recognition. Because inhibition-based RIF should be present in recall and recognition, these findings indicate that in adults and second graders, but not in kindergartners, RIF is mediated by inhibition. The results support the view of inefficient inhibitory processes in young children’s cognition.     

Less we forget: Retrieval cues and release from retrieval-induced forgetting

Retrieving some items from memory can impair the subsequent recall of other related but not retrieved items, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). The dominant explanation of RIF??the inhibition account??asserts that forgetting occurs because related items are suppressed during retrieval practice to reduce retrieval competition. This item inhibition persists, making it more difficult to recall the related items on a later test. In our set of experiments, each category was designed such that each exemplar belonged to one of two subcategories (e.g., each BIRD exemplar was either a bird of prey or a pet bird), but this subcategory information was not made explicit during study or retrieval practice. Practicing retrieval of items from only one subcategory led to RIF for items from the other subcategory when cued only with the overall category label (BIRD) at test. However, adapting the technique of Gardiner, Craik, and Birtwistle (Journal of Learning and Verbal Behavior 11:778?C783, 1972), providing subcategory cues during the final test eliminated RIF. The results challenge the inhibition account??s fundamental assumption of cue independence but are consistent with a cue-based interference account.     

Categorization by movement direction: Retrieval-induced forgetting of motor sequences grouped by motion features

We investigated the organized storage of motor sequences in memory by assuming that processes related to interference at retrieval are indicative of memory organization. Effects resulting from these processes, thus, would allow inferences on how motor sequences are represented and organized. Participants learned motor sequences that were categorized by the direction of the initial movement. The subsequent selective retrieval of a subset of sequences of one category resulted in retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) for the non-retrieved sequences of the same category. RIF occurred in an explicit recall test (Experiment 1), as well in an implicit test assessing memory with novel cues (Experiment 2). The results suggest that RIF affected motor programmes and that other cues as the used effectors (here movement direction) can be used for the organization of procedural memory. Basic retrieval dynamics apparently operate within the declarative and procedural systems in a similar way.     

Effects of repeated retrieval of central and peripheral details in complex emotional slides

Research has demonstrated that repeated retrieval enhances memory for practised verbal information, but undermines correct recall of unpractised related verbal information, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). This paper addresses the question of what happens with memory for unrehearsed aspects of an emotional picture when retrieval of other aspects of that picture is practised. In two experiments we investigated whether repeated retrieval of certain details of negative emotional slides undermines recall of unrehearsed details of such slides. In Experiment 1 retrieval of peripheral details was practised. The results demonstrated that recall for peripheral details was enhanced. However, correct recall of unpractised central details remained unaffected. Furthermore, retrieval practice did not alter the number of commission errors. Experiment 2 revealed that repeated retrieval of central details enhanced memory for these details. Although more commission errors were produced, again correct recall was not impaired for the unrehearsed central and peripheral details. This failure to find retrieval-induced forgetting effects for complex visual material is at odds with the RIF literature, and potential reasons for this are discussed. The data also extend previous studies in demonstrating that extensive retrieval can increase the number of commission errors.     

提取引起的遗忘的认知机制

提取引起的遗忘(RIF)指提取某个信息导致对其它相关信息的遗忘,揭示其内在机制是记忆和遗忘领域的一个重要的研究课题。近20年来,各路研究者分别从干扰理论、抑制理论或情境依赖说出发,试图找到引发RIF的唯一的认知机制。基于对有关RIF的认知机制的实证研究的系统分析,可以发现三个理论均有一定的支持证据,因此导致RIF的原因可能包括抑制、干扰和情境的改变等三个方面。今后该领域可结合多种技术手段对这一多元论观点进行直接的检验。     

Retrieval-induced forgetting after trauma: a study with victims of sexual assault

The Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF) paradigm is used to study how the repeated retrieval practice of particular memories impairs the retrieval of related memory traces. A study is reported where this automatic form of forgetting was investigated in a group of sexual-assault victims and a control group. Using a recognition-cued RIF task, the present study examined RIF with neutral, positive, negative and trauma-specific stimuli. Response time data showed that irrespective of previous trauma exposure, a RIF effect was observed for neutral material, but not for emotional material. No differences in RIF between the trauma group and the control group were found. Inconsistencies with previous literature and the implications for emotional memory are discussed.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting after trauma: A study with victims of sexual assault

The Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF) paradigm is used to study how the repeated retrieval practice of particular memories impairs the retrieval of related memory traces. A study is reported where this automatic form of forgetting was investigated in a group of sexual-assault victims and a control group. Using a recognition-cued RIF task, the present study examined RIF with neutral, positive, negative and trauma-specific stimuli. Response time data showed that irrespective of previous trauma exposure, a RIF effect was observed for neutral material, but not for emotional material. No differences in RIF between the trauma group and the control group were found. Inconsistencies with previous literature and the implications for emotional memory are discussed.