Directed Forgetting

Synonyms

Instructions to forget; Intentional forgetting; Motivated forgetting; Voluntary forgetting

Definition

Directed forgetting is an experimental procedure developed in the late 1960s as an analog to the normal updating of memory. Essentially, individuals are told that they can forget some of the information being presented to them. This is done in one of two ways. In the item method, an instruction to remember or to forget is given immediately after each presented item. In the list method, a single instruction is given half way through the list of items either to forget or to continue remembering the first half of the list. Contrary to instruction, under both methods, memory for both to-be-remembered items (R items) and to-be-forgotten items (F items) is ultimately assessed. The standard finding is poorer memory for the F items than for the R items – the directed forgetting effect.

Theoretical Background

In the beginning, four quite intuitive ideas were proposed to explain how...