Jo Saunders

New evidence on the suggestibility of memory : the role of retrieval-induced forgetting in misinformation effects

Extending recent work that has demonstrated that the act of remembering can result in the inhibition of related items in memory, the present research examined whether retrieval-induced forgetting could provide a mechanism for explaining misinformation effects. Specifically, the authors found in their first study that the inhibition of critical items rendered the recollection of postevent information more likely in a subsequent test of memory. The authors established in their second study that when guided retrieval practice and final recall tests were separated by 24 hr, retrieval-induced forgetting failed to emerge and misinformation effects were absent. In contrast, a delay of 24 hr between initial encoding and guided retrieval practice produced not only retrieval-induced forgetting but also misinformation effects.

Can inhibition resolve retrieval competition through the control of spreading activation

Two experiments are reported in which the mechanisms underlying retrieval-induced forgetting for complex prose materials were investigated, using the independent probe technique pioneered by Anderson and Spellman (1995). These experiments provide additional empirical evidence in support of an inhibitory account of memory. Specifically, evidence emerged not only for the inhibition of nonpracticed items from practiced sets (i.e., first-order effects), but also for the inhibition of items from nonpracticed sets that were semantically related to practiced items in practiced sets (i.e., crosscategory effects) and for items from nonpracticed sets that were semantically related to nonpracticed items in practiced sets (i.e., second-order effects). These findings are considered in terms of Anderson and Spellman’s model of inhibitory processing. We also outline an alternative inhibitory interpretation. Specifically, we consider how inhibition may function as a way of controlling the spread of activation and what implications this may have for the flexibility and adaptiveness of memory.

The role of inhibitory control in the production of misinformation effects.

Recent research has indicated a link between retrieval-induced forgetting and the production of misinformation effects (J. Saunders & M. D. MacLeod, 2002). The mechanism underlying this relationship, however, remains unclear. In an attempt to clarify this issue, the authors presented 150 participants with misinformation under conditions designed to promote the activation of inhibitory control during the retrieval of information about a target event. A modified retrieval practice paradigm that used the independent probe method pioneered by M. C. Anderson and B. A. Spellman (1995) revealed that misinformation effects emerged only where misinformation had been introduced about items that had been subject to 1st-order, 2nd-order, or cross-category inhibition. By contrast, misinformation effects failed to emerge where inhibitory processing had not been activated. These findings are discussed in terms of inhibitory control, memory malleability, and their implications for the interviewing of eyewitnesses.

Retrieval-induced forgetting and mental imagery

In the present article, we present four experiments in which we examined whether mental imagery can initiate retrieval-induced forgetting. Participants were presented with word pairs (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or narratives (Experiment 4) and then engaged in selective mental imagery about half of the details from half of the categories. The results indicated that mental imagery can produce the same pattern of impairment as retrieval practice (Experiment 1) and postevent questioning (Experiment 4). Additionally, mental imagery-invoked, retrievalinduced forgetting was found for category cued recall (Experiments 1, 3, and 4) and cued recall (Experiment 2); it was found to dissipate across a 24-h delay, but only when there was no pre-delay test (Experiment 3). Such retrieval-induced forgetting was also found for imagining from the first-person and third-person perspectives (Experiment 4). From these findings, we suggest that the underlying retrieval processes behind mental imagery can initiate retrieval-induced forgetting. The findings are discussed in terms of inhibitory processes.

The derived generalization of thought suppression

Thought suppression appears to be a relatively ineffective and even counterproductive strategy for dealing with unwanted thoughts. However, the psychological processes responsible for unsuccessful suppression are still underspecified. One process that may be implicated is derived stimulus relations, which may underlie the formation of unintentional relations that act to hamper suppression attempts. To test this prediction, participants were trained and tested for the formation of three derived equivalence relations using a match-to-sample procedure. Subsequently, they were instructed to suppress all thoughts of a particular target word that was a member of one of the three relations and were also allowed to selectively remove words that appeared on a computer screen in front of them by pressing the space bar. Results showed, as predicted, that participants not only removed the to-be-suppressed stimulus, but also removed words in derived relations with that stimulus, thus showing transformation of suppression/interference functions via derived equivalence. The theoretical implications of this demonstration, including its potential as a model for a key psychological process involved in unsuccessful thought suppression, are discussed.

Retrieval Inhibition and Memory Distortion Negative Consequences of an Adaptive Process

Despite the fact that misinformation effects have long been studied by both applied researchers and modelers of human memory, there is little consensus as to the value of such endeavors. We argue that this may be due to a failure to identify the underlying mechanism responsible for such memory distortions. We consider novel evidence for a relationship between retrieval-induced forgetting and the reporting of misinformation. We also explore the extent to which retrieval inhibition underpins this relationship and the implications this has for the modeling of memory and finding potential solutions to real-world problems.

Mnemic neglect: Selective amnesia of one’s faults

ABSTRACT The mnemic neglect model predicts and accounts for selective memory for social feedback as a function of various feedback properties. At the heart of the model is the mnemic neglect effect (MNE), defined as inferior recall for self-threatening feedback compared to other kinds of feedback. The effect emerges both in mundane realism and minimal feedback settings. The effect is presumed to occur in the service of self-protection motivation. Mnemic neglect is pronounced when the feedback poses high levels of self-threat (i.e., can detect accurately one’s weakness), but is lost when self-threat is averted via a self-affirmation manipulation. Mnemic neglect is caused by self-threatening feedback being processed shallowly and in ways that separate it from stored (positive) self-knowledge. The emergence of mnemic neglect is qualified by situational moderators (extent to which one considers their self-conceptions modifiable, receives feedback from a close source, or is primed with improvement-related constructs) and individual differences moderators (anxiety, dysphoria, or defensive pessimism). Finally, the MNE is present in recall, but absent in recognition. Output interference cannot explain this disparity in results, but an inhibitory repression account (e.g., experiential avoidance) can: Repressors show enhanced mnemic neglect. The findings advance research on memory, motivation, and the self.

Selective memory bias for self-threatening memories in trait anxiety

Previous research has suggested that we tend to forget information that is self-threatening—an effect known as mnemic neglect. Three experiments are reported, which examined mnemic neglect in anxiety and whether high-anxious individuals show facilitated memory for self-threatening material. In Experiment 1, high-anxious participants were found to have facilitated memory for self-threatening information in comparison to low-anxious participants. In Experiments 2 and 3 boundary conditions to this memory bias for self-threatening memories were examined, which revealed facilitated recall of self-threatening memories when this information was unmodifiable (Experiment 2) and when this information was highly diagnostic of underlying traits (Experiment 3). The findings indicate that high-anxious participants show reversed mnemic neglect effects indicating increased access to self-threatening information. The findings suggest that high-anxious individuals do show memory bias for threatening information but only under certain circumstances.

Memory impairment in the weapon focus effect

Two experiments are reported in which postevent source of misinformation was manipulated within weaponpresent and weapon-absent scenarios. Participants viewed slides depicting either a weapon or a newspaper event and then received either incomplete questioning or a narrative. Both postevent sources contained misleading information about a central and peripheral detail concerning either the weapon or the newspaper scenario. With a modified test in Experiment 1, questioning was found to increase misinformation effects concerning the central item, as compared with a narrative, and more misinformation effects were found for the weapon-peripheral than for the newspaper-peripheral item. In Experiment 2, the participants were more likely to claim to have seen contradictory and additive misinformation about the central item in the slides following questioning, and more contradictory and additive misinformation effects occurred for the weapon-peripheral than for the newspaper-peripheral item. The findings are considered in terms of the effects of both postevent and encoding factors on memory.

Retrieval Inhibition and Memory Distortion

Despite the fact that misinformation effects have long been studied by both applied researchers and modelers of human memory, there is little consensus as to the value of such endeavors. We argue that this may be due to a failure to identify the underlying mechanism responsible for such memory distortions. We consider novel evidence for a relationship between retrieval-induced forgetting and the reporting of misinformation. We also explore the extent to which retrieval inhibition underpins this relationship and the implications this has for the modeling of memory and finding potential solutions to real-world problems.