Aging and retrieval-induced forgetting of associatively structured lists

Research on retrieval-induced forgetting has shown that remembering can cause forgetting of related information. This study examined whether such forgetting occurred for associatively structured lists and if aging influenced such forgetting. We compared retrieval-induced forgetting during a free recall test by using Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists with an associative structure as the stimulus. Two age groups of young and old adult participants were tested. The results indicated that both age groups showed the same degree of retrieval-induced forgetting of the lists. These results suggest that the association between items causes retrieval-induced forgetting and that the inhibitory function of the association in retrieval-induced forgetting does not decline with age.