“Be careful what you recall”: Retrieval-induced forgetting of genuine real-life autobiographical memories

Somos, Eszter; Mazzoni, Giuliana; Gatti, Daniele; Jellema, Tjeerd

Abstract

Which episodes from our lives will be remembered and which will be forgotten, and why? This question has still not been answered satisfactorily by research into autobiographical memory. Previous work has shown that retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) might be a factor responsible for forgetting parts of the autobiographical memory content. However, none of the previous studies assessed RIF in memories for recent, controlled, personal events. We report here the results of an experiment in which autobiographical memories of real-life events were induced in a controlled, but fully naturalistic, manner under the disguise of team-building exercises, while an adapted RIF paradigm was applied to these memories. Results clearly showed the influence of RIF on autobiographical memory retrieval. These findings demonstrate conclusively that RIF occurs in everyday life when remembering personal events.

Citation

Somos, E., Mazzoni, G., Gatti, D., & Jellema, T. (2022). “Be careful what you recall”: Retrieval-induced forgetting of genuine real-life autobiographical memories. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221078499

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 24, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: May 15, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 18, 2022
• Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 1747-0218
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-0226
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221078499
• Keywords: Autobiographical memory; Retrieval-induced forgetting; Output interference
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3946347