Can we intentionally forget associative information?

I report three item-method directed forgetting (DF) studies to evaluate whether DF impairs primarily item information, or whether it also impairs associative information. Previous research obtained DF in an associative recognition paradigm, implicating possible impairment of associative information. However, impaired associative recognition could also arise from impaired item information, and reflect the downstream effect of item impairment. The current studies employed a modified associative recognition paradigm that allowed dissociating item impairment from associative impairment in DF. In Experiment 1, under strong associative encoding conditions, DF impairment was observed only when the lures came from the same cue condition as the target; however, DF was eliminated when the Forget targets were paired with Remember lures, possibly due to a recall-to-reject strategy. The exact opposite was found in Experiment 2, under weak associative encoding conditions, where pairing the Forget targets with Remember lures resulted in substantial DF, whereas there was no DF when the lures and the target came from the same memory instruction. In Experiment 3, I employed the use of eye-tracking to assess how DF impairment of associative information is reflected in eye-movements. The results showed that eye-movements differentiated between incidental forgetting (Remember items that are forgotten) and successful intentional forgetting (Forget items that are forgotten), providing support for the active account of DF. I conclude that the results provide strong support for the impairment of associative information by DF.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Whitlock, Jonathon

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sahakyan, Lili

• Directed Forgetting, Associative Information, Relational Memory, Eye-Tracking

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Jonathon Whitlock

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107916

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107916