It's easier to forget what you want: Directed forgetting of chosen and unchosen words.

In item-method directed forgetting (DF), participants are instructed to either remember or forget individual items in a study list. When memory for all items is tested, memory is better for remember than for forget items: the DF effect. Research has shown repeatedly that when participants can choose...

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Publicado en:Memory & Cognition Vol. 54; no. 6; pp. 2062 - 2082
Autores principales: Hourihan, Kathleen L., Taylor, Tracy L.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Aug2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Aug2026
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      pub: Springer Nature
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        atl: It's easier to forget what you want: Directed forgetting of chosen and unchosen words.
      aug:
        au:
          Hourihan, Kathleen L.
          Taylor, Tracy L.
        affil:
          https://ror.org/04haebc03 Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, A1B 3X9, St. John's, NL, Canada
          https://ror.org/01e6qks80 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
      su:
        Recognition (Psychology)
        Task performance
        Decision making
        Memory
        Cognition
        Research funding
        Prompts (Psychology)
      sug:
        subj:
          Recognition (Psychology)
          Task performance
          Decision making
          Memory
          Cognition
          Research funding
          Prompts (Psychology)
      keyword:
        Choice
        Directed forgetting
        Recognition
        Choice
        Directed forgetting
        Recognition
      ab: In item-method directed forgetting (DF), participants are instructed to either remember or forget individual items in a study list. When memory for all items is tested, memory is better for remember than for forget items: the DF effect. Research has shown repeatedly that when participants can choose items for re-study, honoring those choices results in superior memory. In a series of experiments examining whether choice influences DF, participants completed an initial choice phase in which they selected words that they wanted to study. In Experiments 1 and 2, the study phase honored half of their choices (remember cues for chosen items, forget cues for non-chosen items), but dishonored half of their choices. Results show that item choice strongly influences DF, with a larger magnitude DF effect when choices are honored compared to control items. Remarkably, dishonored choices resulted in a reversed DF effect: higher recognition of forget-cued than remember-cued words. Experiment 3 showed that the effect did not replicate in participants who received yoked participants' choices, and Experiment 4 showed that although the larger DF effect for honored choices (relative to control) dissipated after a delay, the DF effect for dishonored choices was eliminated (although not reversed). Experiment 5 suggested that participants may consider different information if choosing items they do not want to study (rather than ones they do want to study), resulting in similar (smaller) DF effects for honored and dishonored choices. The roles of choice and reminding in preventing forgetting are discussed.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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