Recent research has found that individuals can selectively forget a subset of items through directed forgetting. The goal of the present study was to replicate this selective directed forgetting effect and elucidate its underlying mechanisms. Unfortunately, results from four experiments failed to find any evidence of selective directed forgetting. Participants failed to forget any items when instructed to forget a subset of items from a first list before learning a second list. Participants were only successful in forgetting items from the first list when they were instructed to forget all items from the first list before learning the second list.
AndersonM.C.BjorkR.A.BjorkE.L.Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrieval dynamics in long-term memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,199420, 1063–1087.
2.
BjorkE.L.BjorkR.A.Continuing influences of to-be-forgotten information.Consciousness and Cognition,19965, 176–196.
3.
Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving (pp. 309–330). Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
4.
DelaneyP.F.NghiemK.WaldumE.R.The selective directed forgetting effect: Can people forget only part of a text?.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,200962, 1542–1550.
5.
DelaneyP.F.SahakyanL.Unexpected costs of high working memory capacity following directed forgetting and contextual change manipulations.Memory & Cognition,200735, 1074–1082.
6.
GeiselmanR.E.BjorkR.A.FishmanD.Disrupted retrieval in directed forgetting: A link with posthypnotic amnesia.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,1983112, 58–72.
7.
GoldingJ.M.LongD.L.MacLeodC.M.You can't always forget what you want: Directed forgetting of related words.Journal of Memory and Language,199433, 493–510.
8.
JohnsonH.Processes of successful intentional forgetting.Psychological Bulletin,1994116, 274–292.
9.
MacLeodC.M.The item and list methods of directed forgetting: Test differences and the role of demand characteristics.Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,19986, 123–129.
10.
RadvanskyG.A.Memory retrieval and suppression: The inhibition of situation models.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,1999128, 563–579.
11.
SahakyanL.Destructive effects of “forget” instructions.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,200411, 555–559.
12.
SahakyanL.KelleyC.M.A contextual change account of the directed forgetting effect.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,200228, 1064–1072.
13.
StormB.C.LevyB.J.A progress report of the inhibitory account of retrieval-induced forgetting.Memory & Cognition,201240, 827–843.
