A contextual change account of the directed forgetting effect.

Abstract

The authors propose that the costs and benefits of directed forgetting in the list method result from an internal context change that occurs between the presentations of 2 lists in response to a "forget" instruction. In Experiment 1 of this study, costs and benefits akin to those found in directed forgetting were obtained in the absence of a forget instruction by a direct manipulation of cognitive context change. Experiment 2 of this study replicated those findings using a different cognitive context manipulation and investigated the effects of context reinstatement at the time of recall. Context reinstatement reduced the memorial costs and benefits of context change in the condition where context had been manipulated and in the standard forget condition. The results are consistent with a context change account of directed forgetting.

Pupillometric and behavioral markers of a developmental shift in the temporal dynamics of cognitive control

“…For example, in the widely used appearance-reality and false-belief tasks meant to assess reasoning about others' thoughts, the beliefs of others are based on a preceding situation that is visually similar to the child's current context, thereby increasing interference on the retrieval of the preceding context on which others' thoughts are based. From this perspective, children's performance across domains is less likely to be improved via manipulations that rely on proactive control, such as repeating instructions that must be maintained (34), than by manipulations aimed at supporting reactive control, such as highlighting conflict to increase the chances of engaging reactive control (36) and using distinctive contexts to reduce retrieval-based interference (37,38).…”

Towards a Cognitive and Neurobiological Model of Motivated Forgetting

“…Regardless of which mechanism is at play, this task best captures situations in which we may prematurely terminate thoughts about an unpleasant experience to limit the footprint of that experience in our memories. The list method directed forgetting effect, by contrast, has been attributed to both to inhibition of the fi rst list (Geiselman et al, 1983 ) , and also to intentional shifts in mental context between the fi rst list and the second ( Sahakyan & Kelley, 2002 ) . In essence, list-method directed forgetting models the situation in which we try to get our mind off of something that has happened recently, by "changing gears."…”

The Role of Inhibitory Control in Forgetting Unwanted Memories: A Consideration of Three Methods

“…These findings indicate that list method directed forgetting operates on context rather than on items (see also Kimball & Bjork, 2002, for relevant evidence). Although this has been interpreted as evidence against inhibition (Sahakyan & Kelley, 2002), the context shift account is consistent with inhibition at a different level of representation.…”

“…However, when some items from a list are given as cues for the remaining items (Goernert & Larson, 1994), or when some items are re-exposed in a recognition test (Bjork, Bjork, & Glenberg, 1973), accessibility of list-1 item improves, as indicated by diminished costs and diminished benefits, respectively. Finally, when directed forgetting instructions are replaced by instructions to induce a new mental context at the outset of a second list, many of the characteristics of directed forgetting are created (Sahakyan & Kelley, 2002). These findings indicate that list method directed forgetting operates on context rather than on items (see also Kimball & Bjork, 2002, for relevant evidence).…”

“…Second, the scheme encourages reclassification of tasks that might not be thought to require inhibition. For instance, Sahakyan and Kelley's (2002) manipulation of mental context is thought to impair memory without inhibition. However, this task could be unintentional forgetting due to inhibition operating at the level of context.…”