REMEMBERING CAN CAUSE FORGETTING - RETRIEVAL DYNAMICS IN LONG-TERM-MEMORY

Three studies show that the retrieval process itself causes long-lasti ng forgetting. Ss studied 8 categories (e.g., Fruit). Half the members of half the categories were then repeatedly practiced through retriev al tests (e.g., Fruit Or}}}). Category-cued recall of unpracticed memb ers of practiced categories was impaired on a delayed test. Experiment s 2 and 3 identified 2 significant features of this retrieval-induced forgetting: The impairment remains when output interference is control led, suggesting a retrieval-based suppression that endures for 20 min or more, and the impairment appears restricted to high-frequency membe rs. Low-frequency members show little impairment, even in the presence of strong, practiced competitors that might be expected to block acce ss to those items. These findings suggest a critical role for suppress ion in models of retrieval inhibition and implicate the retrieval proc ess itself in everyday forgetting.