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Recent research has demonstrated that the act of remembering can prompt temporary forgetting or, more specifically, the inhibition of particular items in memory. Extending work of this kind, the present research investigated some possible boundary conditions of retrieval-induced forgetting. As expected, a critical determinant of temporary forgetting was the interval between guided retrieval practice and a final recall test. When these two phases were separated by 24 hr, retrieval-induced forgetting failed to emerge. When they occurred in the same testing session, however, retrieval practice prompted the inhibition of related items in memory (i.e., Experiment 1). A delay of 24 hr between the encoding of material and guided retrieval practice reduced but did not eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting (i.e., Experiment 2). These findings are considered in the wider context of adaptive forgetting.

Recent research has demonstrated that the act of remembering can prompt forgetting or, more specifically, the inhibition of specific items in memory (M. C. Anderson & B. A. Spellman, 1995). This line of inquiry was extended through an investigation of the process and consequences of retrieval-induced forgetting in social cognition. Across 3 studies, the findings clarify several unresolved issues in the psychology of forgetting. First, it was demonstrated that retrieval-induced forgetting extends to issues in social cognition (Experiment 1). Second, forgetting can be elicited even in task contexts in which perceivers are highly motivated to remember the presented material (Experiment 2). Third, forgetting is not moderated by the amount of retrieval practice that perceivers experience (Experiment 3). These findings are considered in the context of recent treatments of cognitive inhibition and goal-directed forgetting.Since we overcame the error of supposing that the forgetting we are familiar with signified a destruction of the memory trace-that is, its annihilation-we have been inclined to take the opposite view, that in mental life nothing which has once been formed can perish-that everything is somehow preserved and that in suitable circumstances it can once more be brought to light. (Freud, 1930(Freud, /1982 A troublesome feature of everyday life is forgetting information that one is highly motivated to remember. Missed medical appointments, forgotten anniversaries, and misplaced house keys are but three examples that highlight the fragility of human memory. Just when they may be needed most, memories stubbornly refuse to slip their moorings and enter consciousness, with all that this may entail for the forgetful social perceiver. Forgetting, it would seem, is something that should be avoided. As it turns out, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, without the capacity to forget, one would also be unable to remember, at least in any purposive, goal-directed manner (M. C.

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