THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT INHIBITION - EVIDENCE FROM DIRECTED-FORGETTING TASKS

The purposes of this paper are (1) to end the confusion over the mecha nisms producing directed-forgetting effects in the three methods of cu ing items in directed-forgetting tacks, (2) to highlight the role of i nhibition in blocked and ''only'' cued directed-forgetting tasks, and (3) to review and reinterpret the developmental directed-forgetting li terature within an inhibition framework. We argue that item-by-item cu ed directed-forgetting tasks manipulate selective rehearsal to produce greater recall of to-he-remembered (TBR) than to-be forgotten (TBF) i tems. In contrast, both blocked and ''only'' cued directed-forgetting tasks manipulate retrieval inhibition, a form of cognitive inhibition, to produce the suppression of TBF items. The current developmental di rected-forgetting literature is reviewed and reinterpreted in light of this framework. It is concluded that in item-by-item tasks children c an produce directed-forgetting effects using selective rehearsal by se cond grade. In blocked and ''only'' cued directed-forgetting tasks chi ldren can produce directed-forgetting effects as early as third grade in some instances, but usually not until fifth grade, Future direction s for research on cognitive inhibition, especially its role in the inv estigation of repressed memories, are also discussed. (C) 1998 Academi c Press.