RETRIEVAL INHIBITION IN DIRECTED FORGETTING AND POSTHYPNOTIC AMNESIA

In Experiment 1, subjects received either by word or by list directed forgetting or posthypnotic amnesia instructions. Recall and recognitio n performance of subjects who received directed forgetting instruction s was consistent with previous findings reported by Basden, Basden, an d Gargano (1993), with subjects who received by word instructions show ing both recall and recognition deficits for to-be-forgotten items. By contrast, subjects who were given by list instructions showed recall but no recognition deficits, which suggests that although differential encoding underlies word method directed forgetting, retrieval inhibit ion underlies list method directed forgetting. Subjects who received p osthypnotic amnesia instructions (irrespective of method of delivery u sed) showed recall deficits but no recognition deficits, which suggest s that retrieval inhibition underlies posthypnotic amnesia. In Experim ent 2, recognition scores were lower with public (oral) tests than wit h private (written) tests, and recovery was equivalent for to-be-forgo tten and to-be-remembered items. The results are interpreted as incons istent with the differential tagging mechanisms proposed by Huesmann, Gruder, and Dorst (1987).