Effects of thought suppression on automatic retrieval of memory: the role of monitoring and cognitive load

ABSTRACT

This study examined the effect of continuous thought suppression on the subsequent automatic retrieval of memory. In four experiments, participants processed a target phrase and their subsequent memory for the target was then measured by the speed and rate of target production in an indirect phrase-completion test. Continuous thought suppression during the study phase increased the subsequent accessibility of the suppressed thought, as compared with baseline. Moreover, deliberately monitoring the thought process increased target accessibility as much as unconscious monitoring (Experiment 1). Including a secondary cognitive demand task during the study phase reduced the subsequent accessibility of the target (Experiment 2). Monitoring had the same effect as thinking about (Experiments 3) or semantically processing (Experiments 4) the target. These results are consistent with ironic process theory and suggest that reducing cognitive resources during thought suppression is the key to successful suppression and subsequent forgetting.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive resources
• intentionally forgetting
• indirect memory tests

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/f6csg/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [grant number MOST 108-2410-H-194-035].