Directed forgetting affects both direct and indirect tests of memory.

Abstract

In two experiments, subjects were instructed either to remember or to forget each word. Following study, two tests were given, one a direct test of memory requiring conscious recollection of the study list and the other an indirect test that could be performed without awareness of the study list. In Experiment l, subjects recognized more remember than forget words (direct test) and completed more remember than forget fragments (indirect test) on both immediate and 1-week delayed tests. In Experiment 2, subjects showed superior recall (direct test) and greater repetition priming in lexical decision (indirect test) for remember than for forget words. The consistent directed forgetting effect on both types of tests is in accord with the idea that forget items are inhibited at the time of retrieval and that retrieval manipulations, unlike elaboration manipulations at encoding, affect direct and indirect tests in similar ways. In their review chapter, Johnson and Hasher (1987) identified the relations among different memory tasks as a central problem for memory researchers to address. One distinction they particularly emphasized was that between direct and indirect measures of memory. In the words of Johnson and Hasher (1987), Direct memory tasks (free recall, cued recall, recognition) require conscious expressions of remembering; indirect memory tasks (e.g., perceptual identification, homophone spelling, word completion, skill learning) do not (p. 64 l). Johnson and Hasher went on to survey the considerable research effort that had been directed at this distinction.