Memory Control:Investigating the Consequences and Mechanisms of Directed Forgetting in Working Memory.

Directed Forgetting;Working Memory;Long-term Memory;False Memories;Proactive Interference;Articulatory Suppression;Psychology;Social Sciences;Psychology

Festini, Sara B.Lustig, Cindy Ann ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Directed Forgetting;    Working Memory;    Long-term Memory;    False Memories;    Proactive Interference;    Articulatory Suppression;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/108778/sfestini_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Can people control what they remember and what they forget? Directed forgetting is an experimental method for investigating this question. Prior research has most commonly studied directed forgetting in a long-term memory context using long lists (i.e., greater than 6 items) and test delays of minutes or hours. My dissertation steps outside this standard paradigm and examines directed forgetting within working memory, when forgetting is performed on memory representations that are currently held in mind, potentially allowing for more targeted control. My dissertation has two main research aims: (1) to document the effectiveness of directed forgetting implemented within working memory using explicit long-term memory tests and implicit measures of semantic and proactive interference, and (2) to examine the role of rehearsal in directed forgetting within working memory. Results demonstrated that people could voluntarily forget specific memoranda within a canonical working memory task, and that this forgetting diminished both semantic and proactive interference and reduced the long-term memorability of these items. Moreover, additional experimental evidence indicated that articulatory suppression interfered with directed forgetting and that forgetting could be performed in isolation, without the presence of competitors to remember. In combination, these experiments suggest that directed forgetting within working memory attenuates the strength of the to-be-forgotten memory representations, that it requires an active control process that is limited by articulatory suppression, and that it can be performed efficiently regardless of whether or not additional to-be-remembered items are present. This research expands our knowledge of whether and how people can voluntarily control the contents of memory by further characterizing the consequences and mechanisms of directed forgetting within working memory.