Inhibitory dynamics in human memory: From criminal interrogation to classroom instruction.

摘要

The positive outcomes of retrieval tests are widely documented, for both tested items, and other items associated in memory. However, research on retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, and Bjork, 1994) has sparked great interest in retrieval as a process that also limits access to related items in memory. This dissertation examines eyewitness interrogation and classroom learning as test cases for the application of forgetting effects within the demands of real-life learning and recall.;No retrieval-induced forgetting or output interference effects are found in narrative crime scenarios under controlled laboratory conditions (e.g., short encoding and retrieval practice durations and delays; consistent word frequency and taxonomic strength materials held at one level; no interpolated verbal tasks between learning and testing). However, retrieval-induced forgetting becomes evident even in these narrative passages when the conditions of learning and retrieval become less controlled (e.g., longer encoding and retrieval practice durations and delays; varied taxonomic strength of target items; filling of the periods between learning and testing with complex verbal and visual tasks).;Retrieval-induced forgetting and output interference are demonstrated more frequently when the target items are presented as word lists. Comparisons are made between list and narrative material formats in the first five experiments reported in this dissertation. Conclusions are drawn about the applicability of memory studies that use primarily word list materials, to more quotidian situations of learning and recall, which are often disorganized and schematically integrated.;I also examine the interaction of integrative mnemonic strategies with patterns of forgetting and facilitation across the experiments. These analyses allow an examination of the material-appropriate-processing theory (Einstein, McDaniel, Owen, & Cote, 1990). This framework sheds light on the recall benefits (found in list material in the present work) conferred by a mismatch between encoding format (i.e., list or narrative) and processing strategy (i.e., individual-item focused or relational in nature).;The processes involved in retrieval-induced forgetting and output interference fit within the current understanding of inhibitory dynamics in human memory. The theoretical implications, and adaptive consequences, of the operations of suppression and blocking mechanisms are elucidated by the new theory of disuse (Bjork & Bjork, 1992).