There is a positivity bias in autobiographical memory such that people are more likely to remember positive events from their past than they are to remember negative ones. Inhibition may promote this positivity bias by deterring negative memories from being retrieved. In our first experiment, we measured individual differences in retrieval-induced forgetting, a phenomenon believed to be the consequence of retrieval inhibition, and correlated that measure with individual differences in the recall of positive and negative autobiographical memories. Participants who exhibited lower levels of retrieval-induced forgetting recalled significantly more negative memories despite recalling fewer positive memories. In our second experiment, participants attempted to recall negative memories from childhood and from the previous month. Participants who exhibited lower levels of retrieval-induced forgetting recalled significantly more negative memories in both conditions. These results suggest that inhibition plays a key role in preventing the retrieval of negative autobiographical memories.
AndersonM. C. (2001). Active forgetting: Evidence for functional inhibition as a source of memory failure. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 4, 185–210.
2.
AndersonM. C. (2003). Rethinking interference theory: Executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting. Journal of Memory and Language, 49, 415–445.
3.
AndersonM. C.BjorkR. A.BjorkE. L. (1994). Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrieval dynamics in long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 1063–1087.
AslanA.BäumlK.-H. T. (2010). Retrieval-induced forgetting in young children. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 704–709.
6.
AslanA.BäumlK.-H. T. (2011). Individual differences in working memory capacity predict retrieval-induced forgetting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 264–269.
7.
BarnierA. J.HungL.ConwayM. A. (2004). Retrieval-induced forgetting of autobiographical episodes. Cognition & Emotion, 18, 457–477.
8.
BäumlK.-H. T. (2002). Semantic generation can cause episodic forgetting. Psychological Science, 13, 356–360.
9.
BäumlK.-H. T.KuhbandnerC. (2007). Remembering can cause forgetting—But not in negative moods. Psychological Science, 18, 111–115.
10.
BäumlK.-H. T.PastötterB.HanslmayrS. (2010). Binding and inhibition in episodic memory—Cognitive, emotional, and neural processes. Neuroscience & Behavioral Review, 34, 1047–1054.
11.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A.BrownG. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
BjorkE. L.BjorkR. A.AndersonM. C. (1998). Varieties of goal-directed forgetting. In GoldingJ. M.MacLeodC. M. (Eds.), Intentional forgetting: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 103–137). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
14.
BjorkR. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In RoedigerH. L.CraikF. I. M. (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving (pp. 309–330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
15.
BjorkR. A.BjorkE. L. (1992). A new theory of disuse and an old theory of stimulus fluctuation. In HealyA.KosslynS.ShiffrinR. (Eds.), From learning processes to cognitive processes: Essays in honor of William K. Estes (Vol. 2, pp. 35–67). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
16.
BlaneyP. H. (1986). Affect and memory: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 229–246.
17.
BruntonT. L. (1883). On the nature of inhibition, and the action of drugs upon it. Nature, 27, 419–422.
18.
CarstensenL. L.IsaacowitzD. M.CharlesS. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165–181.
19.
ConwayM. A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 53, 594–628.
20.
EichE.MacaulayD.RyanL. (1994). Mood dependent memory for events of the personal past. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 201–215.
21.
GroomeD. H.GrantN. (2005). Retrieval-induced forgetting is inversely related to everyday cognitive failures. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 313–319.
JoormannJ. (2010). Cognitive inhibition and emotion regulation in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 161–166.
24.
MacLeodC. M.DoddM. D.SheardE. D.WilsonD. E.BibiU. (2003). In opposition to inhibition. In RossB. H. (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 43, pp. 163–214). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
25.
MacLeodM. D.MacraeC. N. (2001). Gone but not forgotten: The transient nature of retrieval-induced forgetting. Psychological Science, 12, 148–152.
26.
MatherM.CarstensenL. L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 496–502.
27.
Nolen-HoeksemaS. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 569–582.
28.
SchacterD. L. (2001). The seven sins of memory: How the mind forgets and remembers. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
29.
SorianoM. F.JiménezJ. F.RománP.BajoM. T. (2009). Inhibitory processes in memory are impaired in schizophrenia: Evidence from retrieval-induced forgetting. British Journal of Psychology, 100, 661–673.
30.
StormB. C. (2011). Retrieval-induced forgetting and the resolution of competition. In BenjaminA. S. (Ed.), Successful remembering and successful forgetting: A festschrift in honor of Robert A. Bjork (pp. 89–105). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
31.
StormB. C.AngelloG. (2010). Overcoming fixation: Creative problem solving and retrieval-induced forgetting. Psychological Science, 21, 1263–1265.
32.
StormB. C.BjorkE. L.BjorkR. A. (2008). Accelerated relearning after retrieval-induced forgetting: The benefit of being forgotten. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 230–236.
33.
StormB. C.LevyB. J. (2012). A progress report on the inhibitory account of retrieval-induced forgetting. Memory & Cognition, 40, 827–843.
34.
StormB. C.WhiteH. A. (2010). ADHD and retrieval-induced forgetting: Evidence for a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory. Memory, 18, 99–114.
35.
TaylorS. E.BrownJ. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 10, 193–210.
36.
WaldfogelS. (1948). The frequency and affective character of childhood memories. Psychological Monographs, 62(Whole No. 291).
37.
WalkerW. R.SkowronskiJ. J.ThompsonC. P. (2003). Life is pleasant—and memory helps to keep it that way!Review of General Psychology, 7, 203–210.
38.
WegnerD. M. (1994). Ironic processes in mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34–52.
39.
WesselI.HauerB. J. A. (2006). Retrieval-induced forgetting of autobiographical memory details. Cognition & Emotion, 20, 430–447.
