How do we forget negative events? The role of attentional, cognitive, and metacognitive control

Abstract

Four experiments using the item-method directed forgetting procedure examined how people intentionally forget significant negative emotional events. The cued-recall test showed that the directed forgetting effect was smaller for negative events than for neutral events. For both negative and neutral events, post-forgetting probe reaction times were longer than post-remembering probe reaction times on a speeded spatial judgement task, suggesting that forgetting was more demanding than remembering within seconds after the memory cue. As compared with the control group, participants who performed a secondary task after the memory cue forgot fewer negative events and did not show the directed forgetting effect. Finally, participants allocated more study time to forgetting negative events than neutral events. Results are discussed in terms of attentional and metacognitive mechanisms that involve the attenuated directed forgetting effect for emotional self-relevant events.

Keywords:

• Item-method directed forgetting
• Attentional inhibition
• Emotional memory
• Study time allocation
• Cognitive load

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Research Grant NSC 99-2410-H-194-039 from the National Science Council of the Republic of China.