Intention matters more than attention: Item-method directed forgetting of items at attended and unattended locations

This study embedded attentional cues in the study phase of an item-method directed forgetting task. We used an unpredictive onset cue (Experiment 1), a predictive onset cue (Experiment 2), or a predictive central cue (Experiments 3–6) to direct attention to the left or right. In Experiments 1–5, thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hamm, J.P (Author), Taylor, T.L (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2021
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Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
Description
Summary:This study embedded attentional cues in the study phase of an item-method directed forgetting task. We used an unpredictive onset cue (Experiment 1), a predictive onset cue (Experiment 2), or a predictive central cue (Experiments 3–6) to direct attention to the left or right. In Experiments 1–5, this was followed by a pink or blue study word that required a speeded colour discrimination; in Experiment 6, it was followed by a pink or blue word or nonword that required a lexical decision. Each study word was followed by an instruction to Remember or Forget. A yes–no recognition test confirmed better recognition of to-be-remembered words than to-be-forgotten words; a cueing effect confirmed the effectiveness of predictive cues in allocating attentional resources. There was, however, no evidence that the directed forgetting effect differed for attended and unattended words: Encoding depends more on the memory intention formed after a study word has disappeared than on the availability of processing resources when that word first appears. © 2021, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.
ISBN:19433921 (ISSN)
DOI:10.3758/s13414-020-02220-x