Directed forgetting in working memory.

Dames, Hannah; Oberauer, Klaus

doi:10.1037/xge0001256

Cited by 22 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…However, it has also been argued that procedural and declarative working memory operate in analogous ways (Oberauer et al, 2013). Our finding may hint towards a dissociation between the two memory systems: while we may have intentional control over what is kept in declarative working memory (Dames & Oberauer, 2022), this may not be the case for procedural working memory. Future studies are needed to further investigate the impact of directed forgetting on procedural working memory to test this hypothesis.…”

Section: Directed Forgetting Of Stimulus-response Associationsmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…This assumption stands in contrast with findings regarding declarative working memory content. Here, participants seem to be remarkably efficient in intentionally forgetting outdated information in working memory (i.e., removing that information from working memory; Dames & Oberauer, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a subsequent memory test for all items, participants typically recall fewer TBF than TBR items. Whereas the specific mechanisms underlying the item-method directed-forgetting effect are still debated No Directed Forgetting of Stimulus-Response Associations 9 controversially (e.g., Fawcett & Taylor, 2008;Tan et al, 2020), recent studies suggest that for declarative memory content, both upregulation of TBR and downregulation of TBF information play a role in item-method directed-forgetting (both in long-term memory; Fellner et al, 2020 as well as in working memory, Dames & Oberauer, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Hard to forget: No Directed Forgetting of Stimulus-Response Associations

Dames¹,

Ragni²,

Kiesel³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Humans can intentionally forget previously-learned declarative information such as words: Memory for to-be-remembered (TBR) words is typically better than for to-be-forgotten (TBF) ones (directed forgetting effect). The role of intention in the learning and retrieval of procedural bindings is, however, less clear. Here, we combined item-method directed forgetting and item-specific S-R priming to investigate whether people have intentional control over the formation and/or retrieval of stimulus-response (S-R) associations: By categorizing stimuli in a learning phase participants formed S-R associations. A memory cue following participants’ responses indicated to remember or forget the stimulus for a later memory test. In the following test phase, participants responded to the same stimuli, but the required response item-specifically repeated or switched. In four experiments, reaction time differences between item-specific repetitions and switches (item-specific S-R effect) did not differ between TBR and TBF stimuli. This was the case when S-R associations already existed before the memory instruction was given (Exp. 1), when stimuli, responses, and memory cues were paired multiple times (Exp. 2), when forming new S-R associations (Exp. 3), and when categorizing word stimuli rather than images (Exp. 4). Thus, intentionally up- and/or downregulating the memory strength of a stimulus representation does not necessarily go hand in hand with the strengthening of the associated response. These results can be explained by two accounts: either top-down control can selectively operate on different levels of representations (and does not incidentally affect an entire event file) or that separate memory systems store procedural and declarative content.

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Section: Directed Forgetting Of Stimulus-response Associationsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Hard to forget: No Directed Forgetting of Stimulus-Response Associations

Dames¹,

Ragni²,

Kiesel³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Here we limit our conclusions to attentional control over the contents of long-term memory. However, it is possible that there are differences between directed forgetting of working memory versus long-term memory contents or that processes involved in directed forgetting in working memory contribute to long-term directed forgetting ( Dames & Oberauer, 2022 ). Ongoing work by Hannah Dames and colleagues is testing whether the mechanisms driving directed forgetting of information held in working memory and long-term memory are dissociable ( Dames & Oberauer, 2022 ; Popov & Dames, 2022 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Directed forgetting of pictures of everyday objects

Scotti

Maxcey

2022

Journal of Vision

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Directed forgetting is a laboratory task in which subjects are explicitly cued to forget certain items and remember others. Volitional control over the contents of memory has been used to study clinical disorders, with successful intentional control of memory being a hallmark of a healthy mind. Yet the degree of volitional forgetting over the content of visual long-term memory is unclear when compared to words. Different kinds of visual stimuli (e.g., abstract symbols, line drawings, scenes) may not equally be susceptible to voluntary control in memory, and intentional forgetting studies have shown both twice as much forgetting of pictures compared to words (think/no-think task) and half as much forgetting of pictures compared to words (directed forgetting task). In the present study, we systematically test volitional control over pictures of everyday objects using item-method directed forgetting procedures. We find that subjects are able to intentionally prioritize memory for pictures cued as to be remembered over pictures cued to be forgotten. Here we show that directed forgetting effects are observed using pictures of everyday objects (albeit to a weaker extent compared to directed forgetting of words), suggesting increased confidence for generalization of directed forgetting literature to real-world applications. However, we caution clinical applications of intentional memory control until the underlying direction causing this effect (upregulation of remember-cued items or downregulation of forget-cued items) is known.

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“…Item method directed forgetting has enriched our understanding of how information in WM is selected or not selected to be incorporated into LTM (see Dames & Oberauer, 2022). It is important for irrelevant information to be expunged from WM so that it does not deplete limited capacity resources and so that it is not further processed and retained (Lewis-Peacock et al, 2018).…”

Section: Investigations Of Intentional Forgettingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Cue Duration on Item-Method Directed Forgetting: A Selective Retrieval Interpretation

Tanberg¹,

Fernandes²,

MacLeod³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In the item-method directed forgetting paradigm, each presented item receives its own instructional cue during the study phase—either to-be-forgotten (F) or to-be-remembered (R)—and memory is poorer for F items than for R items during the test phase. Three experiments separately investigated the influence of item duration and of cue duration using durations of 1, 5, and 10 seconds. Experiment 1 showed that increasing item duration improved recognition of both R and F items equivalently up to 5 seconds, then leveled off. Experiment 2 showed no effect of cue duration on recognition of either R or F items. Switching from within-subject to between-subjects manipulation of cue duration, Experiment 3 showed that increasing cue duration improved recognition of both R and F items equivalently. Overall, there was no evidence to support a time-consuming or effortful active process applied to F items, as has been proposed in the attentional withdrawal account. We suggest reframing the selective rehearsalaccount, with the rehearsal benefit to R items depending not on ongoing elaborative rehearsal but instead on a rapid retrieval process that boosts R item representation in long-term memory.

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Directed forgetting in working memory.

Cited by 22 publications

References 62 publications

Hard to forget: No Directed Forgetting of Stimulus-Response Associations

Hard to forget: No Directed Forgetting of Stimulus-Response Associations

Directed forgetting of pictures of everyday objects

The Influence of Cue Duration on Item-Method Directed Forgetting: A Selective Retrieval Interpretation

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