The item and list methods of directed forgetting: Test differences and the role of demand characteristics

Abstract

In directed forgetting, the item method presents instructions to remember or to forget individual items; the list method presents a single mid-list instruction to forget the first half of the list. Initial free recall was better for remember (R) words than for forget (F) words under both methods. Offered 50 cents for each additional F word, subjects could recall almost no more items, eliminating a demand characteristics explanation. On a yes/no recognition test, only the item method showed directed forgetting. Retrospective instruction identification was good except for F words under the list method, where performance was at chance. There was no evidence of speed-accuracy tradeoff on the recognition or instruction identification tests. These results bring together the major findings concerning directed forgetting and support a method-based theoretical distinction.

Alexithymia impairs the cognitive control of negative material while facilitating the recall of neutral material in both younger and older adults

“…As we were interested in the latter form of cognitive control, we used the list method in our study. The list method (e.g., MacLeod, 1998MacLeod, , 1999Zellner & Bäuml, 2006) assesses cognitive control either through intentional efforts to remember and forget (see also Bjork, Bjork, & Anderson, 1998) or through efforts to change one's mental context (Sahakyan, Delaney, & Goodmon, 2008;Sahakyan & Foster, 2009;Sahakyan & Kelley, 2002). More specifically, it requires an intentional effort to control what is forgotten and what is remembered: participants must voluntarily not recall TBF items and voluntarily recall the TBR items (Bjork et al, 1998;Power et al, 2000).…”

“…Thus, it examines the ability to "control the contents of consciousness" (Whetstone, Cross, & Whetstone, 1996). Two methods are commonly used (Basden & Basden, 1996;Basden, Basden, & Gargano, 1993;MacLeod, 1998MacLeod, , 1999: (1) the item-by-item cueing method (i.e., word method), which tends to induce rehearsal mechanisms during encoding and (2) the list cueing method (i.e., list method), where "forget" instructions are provided after the first half of the list and "remember" instructions occur after the second half, which requires a specific effort to forget and/or control for context changes. As we were interested in the latter form of cognitive control, we used the list method in our study.…”

“…Geiselman & Bagheri, 1985;MacLeod, 1998MacLeod, 1999Power et al, 2000;Wilson & Kipp, 1998). This inhibition, according to the directsuppression model, is an executive control process whereby target items inhibited directly (Levy & Anderson, 2002).…”

“…Importantly, it may also help lead to possible treatments for adults having difficulty regulating their emotions. Therefore, to address age effects in alexithymia and cognitive control, we used the directed forgetting paradigm with younger and older adults (see, e.g., MacLeod, 1998MacLeod, , 1999Power, Dalgleish, Claudio, Tata, & Kentish, 2000).…”

Directed Forgetting in Incidental Learning and Recognition Testing: Support for a Two-Factor Account.

“…However, if participants tend to change to a better encoding strategy following a forget instruction, then the List 2 benefits of directed forgetting should be observed in recognition testing as well. Prior research has consistently failed to detect the benefits (and the costs) with recognition tests using relatively short lists of 12-16 items per list (Basden & Basden, 1996;Basden et al, 1993;Geiselman et al, 1983;Gross et al, 1970;MacLeod, 1999;Schmitter-Edgecombe et al, 2004;Whetstone et al, 1996; but see E. L. Bjork & Bjork, 2003). We suspected that benefits in recognition studies were too small to detect with shorter lists; therefore, we systematically explored the role of list length in directed forgetting.…”