Instructions to shift eyes do not increase item-method directed forgetting

Abstract

ABSTRACT Successful forgetting of recently-studied information has been shown to be positively correlated with eye movements [Lee, Y. (2018). Withdrawal of spatial overt attention following intentional forgetting: Evidence from eye movements. Memory (Hove, England), 26(4), 503–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1378360]. We tested whether eye movements caused forgetting by manipulating instructions to move eyes following forget and remember cues in item-method directed forgetting. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to move eyes to the periphery after TBF trials or to focus on the centre where the TBF word and cue had been presented. In Experiment 2, we manipulated eye movement instructions within participants such that on half of the TBR and TBF trials participants shifted their eyes to the periphery, and on the other half of the trials, participants focused on the centre of the screen. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 with an added probe task which ensured participants were moving their eyes as instructed. Results overall showed eye movements did not increase directed forgetting. Instructing participants to shift or focus eyes did not interact with the effectiveness of directed forgetting. Furthermore, metacognitive measures collected during study indicated that participants are sensitive to the significant effects of directed forgetting, but – like recall – judgments were not affected by eye movement instructions. From these findings, we concluded that eye movements do not promote intentional forgetting.