DIRECTED FORGETTING IN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MEMORY TESTS - A COMPARISON OF METHODS

Directed forgetting has been studied by instructing Ss to forget eithe r (a) an initial list or (b) individually selected words. Differential encoding was hypothesized to be responsible for word-method directed forgetting, and retrieval inhibition for list-method directed forgetti ng. In Experiments 1 and 2, directed forgetting was observed in recogn ition with the word method but not with the list method. Release from directed forgetting occurred in final recall after recognition but onl y with the list method. These results are interpreted in terms of a th eoretical framework that integrates distinctive-relational processing theory with revised generation-recognition theory. In Experiments 1-3, predictions from that framework were generally well supported on impl icit and explicit retention tests that provided the same stimulus cond itions. Consistent with processing theory, list-method directed forget ting was absent on data-driven or conceptually driven implicit tests, and word-method directed forgetting was absent on data-driven implicit tests.