The Benefits and Science of Forgetting

• Forgetting is beneficial as it allows us to achieve goals, function in society, and avoid distractions from the past.
• Memory is not static; it's vulnerable to change, and forgetting prevents storing mundane, confusing, or outdated memories.
• Memories can be reshaped, evidenced by eyewitness testimony.

Motivated Forgetting

• Forgetting due to motives and intentions can be intentional.
• An example of intentional forgetting is forgetting a bad test result to protect self-esteem and later performance.
• Some professionals suggest traumatic memories are eliminated from consciousness.
• Some researchers argue that traumatic memories are imprinted and rarely forgotten.
• Human memory is fallible, possibly reconstructing events and adding details that didn't occur.
• People confuse the source of memories, struggling to distinguish between imagined and real events.

Examining Forgetting

• This can be examined using directed forgetting procedure (being told to forget encoded information).
• Item method directed forgetting involves forgetting individual items.
• List method directed forgetting involves forgetting a list of items.

Item Method Directed Forgetting

• During the learning phase, words are encoded for a memory test.
• Immediately after each word, participants are instructed to either remember or forget it.
• During the testing phase, an old/new recognition paradigm is used.
• "Old" indicates the word was seen during the learning session.
• "New" indicates novel words not seen during the learning session.
• Results show to-be-forgotten words were dramatically impaired while to-be-remembered words were remembered well.
• This is due to an encoding deficit; information asked not to remember isn't rehearsed and encoded.
• This makes it difficult to encode and transfer the information into long-term memory (LTM).

List Method Directed Forgetting

• During the learning phase, words are encoded for a memory test.
• Participants are asked to forget the first half of the list.
• During the testing phase, an old/new recognition paradigm is used.
• Results show items in the first half of the list were not encoded as well.
• Retrieval deficits occur due to confusion about which words to forget.
• Individuals lower the accessibility of encountered and well-encoded events when they no longer want to remember them.
• People recall fewer items from the first list compared to the second.

Autobiographical and Episodic Memories

• It is questionable whether autobiographical memories can be forgotten and memories of significant events in our lives.
• Episodic memories are memories from the past that occur at a certain time.

Barnier et al (2007)

• During the learning phase, participants generate a personal memory for each cue word.
• Group A forgets 12 cue words and generates 12 new memories using 12 new cue words.
• Group B remembers 12 cue words and generates 12 new memories with 12 new cue words.
• During the testing phase, participants list all memories from both lists.
• Results show reliable and strong directed forgetting effects, indicating retrieval and encoding inhibition.
• Individuals can reduce the recall of specific information when asked to forget it.
• Memories can be cognitively manipulated and shaped by internal mental processes.
• Directed forgetting effects can occur for autobiographical memories.

Natural Repressors

• Natural repressors recall fewer negative events and have a natural ability to repress negative memories.
• Tend to report lower anxiety and stress levels, even with physiological signs of emotional reactions.
• Repressors may be skilled at inhibiting memories.
• Myers, Brewin, & Power (1998) used a list method directed forgetting procedure.
• During the learning phase, repressors and non-repressors studied pleasant/unpleasant words.
• Repressors were better at blocking unpleasant words through retrieval inhibition.
• No difference exists between groups in blocking pleasant words.
• Repressors are superior in suppressing personal emotional events.
• Geraerts, Merckelbach, Jelicic, & Smeets (2006) found repressors reported more negative intrusions after suppressing them in the lab.
• Short-term suppression can help avoid unwanted information, but long-term suppression may lead to more intrusions.

False Memories

• Memory is a synthesis of experience, not a replay.
• It is active reconstruction, not consolidated replaying.
• People can believe memories of experiences that never happened.
• Examples of false autobiographical memories include being lost in a shopping mall or spilling the punchbowl at a wedding.
• Researchers can convince participants events occurred without their recollection.
• Individuals can be primed and affected by source forgetting, and police questioning can induce false memories.
• People use reconstruction processes to form a coherent life narrative.
• Reconstruction is the reconstruction of fragmented pieces of information in memories.
• Distance-based processes involve placing events in time.
• Familiarity leads to associating false and real memories.

Psychological Studies of False Memories

• Psychologists have conducted three types of relevant studies
• Early studies focused on how misinformation distorts memory after witnessing an event;
• This relates to Loftus and the misinformation effect (believing misleading suggestions).
• Further studies involve creating false memories of encountering certain stimuli.
• The DRM paradigm fosters false memories in college students.
• Third type of study examines implanting false autobiographical memories (e.g., lost in a mall).

False Memories and Car Collisions

• Post-event misinformation occurs when hearing questions or suggestions reshapes memories.
• The misinformation effect means memories are never a perfect recall.
• Leading questions can lead individuals to admit or imply specific answers.
• Loftus & Palmer (1974) found "smashed" in "How fast was the vehicle travelling when the car contacted vs smashed each other?" yielded 10% faster speed estimates than "contacted."
• Loftus & Zanni (1975) found “the" in "Did you see a broken headlight?” vs. “Did you see broken headlight?” resulted in fewer "I don't know" responses and more "recognition."
• Minor interview changes can alter reported memory and can lead to significant alterations.
• Questions after an event can cause reconstruction.
• Reconstruction: Associations can help to recall other memories.

Reconstructive Model

• In Braines (1965) Memories are stored as individual details with varying degrees of associations
• Scripts can alter these memories.
• Telling a story about your visit to the restaurant can bring up new memories

Roediger & McDermott (1995)

• Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is used to assess false memories among college students.
• Participants were given topics from a certain theme to help them free recall words.
• Participants are asked if they heard words (not on the list but quite similar to the theme).
• The study involves using strong semantic associates of a word not presented, acting as a "critical lure."
• This captures the essence of the entire list, like the word "sleep" in a list of sleep-related terms.
• Roediger and McDermott found subjects "remembered" words that were only suggested but not presented.
• Subsequent tests revealed many subjects falsely recalled and recognized these critical lures.

Naturalistic DRM and Recovered Memories

• In the study of video showing fruit was being heard in the play but not mentioned.
• Semantically related words create more associations.
• Studies have examined repressed memories through clinical experiences, surveys, and college students.
• The accuracy of recovered memories is questionable but possible.

Directed Forgetting

• Terr (1991) found abused children cope by developing an avoidant encoding style, disengaging attention from threatening words.
• Impairing memory from these cues
• McNally, Clancy, & Schacter (2001) used an item cueing directed forgetting task requesting individuals to remember/forget words.
• During the encoding phase, words were shown with cues to "remember" or "forget."
• They used 3 categories of words (trauma-related, positive, and neutral).
• During the testing phase, free recall was tested immediately after, disregarding previous "forget" or "remember" instructions.
• Results showed normal memory functioning in the recovered memory group.
• Recalled to-be-remembered words more often than to-be-forgotten words, regardless of word valence.
• No difference exists in trauma-related words compared to control subjects.
• Recovered memory group did not show a better ability to avoid encoding material related to abuse.

Creating False Memories

• Researchers explore if recovery memories might be false recollections and suggestive therapeutic techniques
• McNally's lab used the DRM paradigm to elicit false memories in people with recovered memories and the results were that people were more prone to falsely remembering words and CSA memories.
• Tests proved that people reporting recovered CSA memories would be more prone to falsely remembering and recognizing non-presented words, making it difficult to differentiate between what they saw and what they imagined.
• Results showed that as a group, people with recovered CSA memories more often falsely recalled and recognized the non-presented critical lures compared to people with continuous CSA memories and those with no history of abuse.
• Result was true for neutral and trauma-related words, implying source monitoring issues in these individuals leads to these false memories.