Suppression in retrieval practice, part-set cueing, and negative priming memory: The hydrogen model

Abstract

A number of phenomena in memory have been explained using appeals to active suppression processes, including retrieval practice, part-set cueing, and the negative priming that is observed with associative interference. However, more formal attempts to capture such processes have been absent. This paper outlines the hydrogen model of memory retrieval, which aims to be a simple model with the modest goal of trying to explore what influence suppression would have on memory retrieval. This model contains a single activation component and a single suppression component in which suppression comes into play only after retrieval interference has been detected. This model was created to explore the plausibility and viability of ideas about the operation of suppression during memory retrieval. For hydrogen, the degree of suppression recruited is proportional to the amount of interference experienced. Overall, the pattern of human data was captured by the suppression model.

Keywords:

• Suppression
• Inhibition
• Retrieval practice
• Part-set cueing
• Negative priming

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sidney D'Mello, Melissa Lehman, and Jeroen Raaijmakers for their comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.