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Abstract:
Two experiments examined the effects of retrieval inhibition
on the occurrence of false recall for word lists composed of the 15
strongest semantic associates of an unpresented word, the critical
item. Experiment 1 induced intentional retrieval inhibition, using
directed forgetting. Experimental subjects studied two lists
separated by an instruction either to forget or to continue
remembering List 1. Control subjects studied List 1 or List 2 only.
Studied-item recall exhibited a retrieval inhibition pattern
typical of directed forgetting: forget subjects recalled List 1
worse than remember and control subjects; remember subjects
recalled List 2 worse than forget and control subjects. However,
critical-item intrusions exhibited an inverse pattern, increasing
when studied-item recall decreased and vice versa. Experiment 2
induced counter-intentional retrieval inhibition, using part-list
cuing. Following each list, a recall test either did or did not
provide some list words as cues. Studied-item recall for cued lists
exhibited typical retrieval inhibition relative to uncued lists.
However, unlike the inverse pattern observed with directed
forgetting, critical item intrusions declined with cuing. Results
are consistent with intrusion of the critical item into study phase
rehearsal due to high semantic activation; directed forgetting then
decreases access to episodically distinctive information that would
enable rejection of the critical item during recall; part-list
cuing increases cue accessibility at the expense of both the
non-cue studied items and the previously intruded critical
item.
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