Retrieval-Induced Forgetting in a Category Recognition Task

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Bernhard Spitzer - , University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Karl Heinz Bäuml - , University of Regensburg (Author)

Abstract

Prior work on retrieval-induced forgetting showed that retrieving a subset of formerly studied items can impair item recognition of related, nonretrieved material. Here it was investigated whether retrieval practice can also impair the items' recognition as a member of a studied category. Subjects studied preexperimentally unrelated words that were categorized by their font colors, then practiced retrieving a subset of the words using a word stem completion task. Finally, an episodic category recognition test based on confidence ratings was applied. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of the data demonstrated a reliable impairment in subjects' recognition of the nonretrieved items' category relative to control items. The result indicates that retrieval-induced forgetting is not restricted to item recognition but generalizes to category recognition tasks. Inhibitory as well as noninhibitory explanations of the finding are discussed.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)286-291
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
Volume35
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2009
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 19210100
ORCID /0000-0001-9752-932X/work/182336651

Keywords

Keywords

  • category reduction, episodic memory, recognition, retrieval-induced forgetting