Working memory capacity predicts listwise directed forgetting in adults and children

Abstract

In listwise directed forgetting, participants are cued to forget previously studied material and to learn new material instead. Such cueing typically leads to forgetting of the first set of material and to memory enhancement of the second. The present study examined the role of working memory capacity in adults' and children's listwise directed forgetting. Working memory capacity was assessed with complex span tasks. In Experiment 1 working memory capacity predicted young adults' directed-forgetting performance, demonstrating a positive relationship between working memory capacity and each of the two directed-forgetting effects. In Experiment 2 we replicated the finding with a sample of first and a sample of fourth-grade children, and additionally showed that working memory capacity can account for age-related increases in directed-forgetting efficiency between the two age groups. Following the view that directed forgetting is mediated by inhibition of the first encoded list, the results support the proposal of a close link between working memory capacity and inhibitory function.

Keywords:

• Episodic memory
• Directed forgetting
• Individual differences
• Working memory capacity
• Inhibition
• Cognitive development

Notes

¹Using the difference in recall between List 2 and List 1 in the forget condition, the authors reported results from additional correlational analyses, indicating a negative relationship between WMC and DF efficiency in one experiment (Experiment 1), and a positive relationship between WMC and DF efficiency in the other two experiments (Experiments 2 and 3). Because such analysis ignores performance in the remember condition and does not allow to measure List-1 forgetting and List-2 enhancement separately, the correlational results per se are silent about whether the reported effects reflect List-1 forgetting or List-2 enhancement.

²In both experiments we analysed whether WMC also affected DF performance for second-tested lists. For both List-1 forgetting and List-2 enhancement, no reliable effect of WMC on DF arose, indicating that the effects of WMC on DF are restricted to first-tested lists.

³In both experiments we also regressed individuals' List-1 and List-2 recall scores (rather than their difference scores) on the individual WMC score. For all three participant groups, List-1 recall in the remember, but not the forget, condition increased with increasing WMC; and List-2 recall in the forget, but not the remember, condition increased with increasing WMC.