Graduation Year

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Granting Department

Psychology

Major Professor

Douglas L. Nelson, Ph.D.

Keywords

Implicit memory, Retrieval induced forgetting, Competitors, Disruption, Cued recall task

Abstract

There have been many theories on why we forget. One of the recent approaches to this phenomenon is retrieval induced forgetting (RIF). The present study investigated RIF and different kinds of disruptions and their effects by using extra-list cued recall task. Some participants studied two additional word lists after the target list and some participants studied and were tested from these interpolated lists before their final recall of target list. Relatedness of the interfering lists was also manipulated. There were two control groups that either got an immediate test or got a math task before memory test. The particular interest was on the target competitor effect. The results of the study indicated that all the disruption conditions reduced the effects of competitors. However, there was no effect of retrieval-induced forgetting and also no effect of relatedness. The importance of retention interval on forgetting was discussed.

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