Item-method directed forgetting and working memory capacity: A hierarchical multinomial modeling approach

Abstract

Intentional forgetting of information that has recently been encoded is regarded an active and adaptive process and is widely studied using the item-method or the list-method directed forgetting (DF) paradigm. In the present research, we tested whether inter-individual differences in working-memory capacity (WMC), that have been identified as a relevant predictor of DF within the list method, are also related to stronger DF effects within the item method. Furthermore, we investigated relationships between WMC and item-method DF at different processing stages by applying the multinomial storage–retrieval model hierarchically to our data. Results showed that individuals with high WMC are better able to store to-be-remembered information than individuals with low WMC, whereas WMC was not related to retrieval of to-be-remembered information or to either storage or retrieval of to-be-forgotten information. Implications for theoretical accounts of item-method DF are discussed.