Script-driven processing affords protection from retrieval-induced forgetting in the recall of everyday activities

Abstract

Using the retrieval-practice paradigm, we examined the effects of script and selective retrieval on the recall of high- and low-typicality actions of everyday activities. The participants studied two activities, Getting up in the morning and Going to a restaurant, each consisting of high-typicality and low-typicality actions. They then practised half of the high- or low-typicality actions of an activity, with recall of the unpractised activity serving as baseline. Script-driven processing prompted the recall of high-typicality actions and produced more high-typicality than low-typicality intrusions. Selective retrieval practice of the high-typicality script actions did not have an adverse effect on the recall of high- or low-typicality actions, while practising low-typicality actions not representative of the scripts produced retrieval-induced forgetting of other low-typicality actions. Scripts provide the cognitive system with flexibility and economy, but side-effects such as high-typicality intrusions and poor memory for detail can also derive from script processing.