Influence of the typicality of the actions in a mugging script on retrieval-induced forgetting

Resumen

Research has demonstrated that the act of remembering can prompt temporary forgetting or inhibition of related contents in memory. This study extends the retrieval-induced forgetting effect to the recall of actions of an event. Based on a normative data study, high- and low-typicality actions of a mugging event were selected. The participants studied verified facts (hightypicality actions) and non-verified facts (low-typicality actions). They then practiced retrieving half of the high- or low-typicality actions of the event, and a non-practice control group was added. In the final task the three groups tried to recall both verified and non-verified facts of the event. Conventional retrieval-induced forgetting was found for low-typicality actions, but a comparable forgetting effect did not emerge in the hightypicality actions. This finding suggests that the activation of scripts may protect typical event information from retrieval-induced forgetting. The integration of the script actions makes them resistant to inhibitory processes.