Directed forgetting of individual words in free recall.

University of MichiganADDISON E. WOODWARD, JR.Governors State UniversityThis article reports an experiment designed to clarify the storage, rehearsal,and retrieval mechanisms that underlie the ability of 5s to recall to-be-remembered words (R words) without intruding to-be-forgotten words(F words). The 5s were presented seven 24-word lists, each consisting of arandom mixture of 12 R words and 12 F words; the cues to remember or forgetwere presented subsequent to each word in turn. Six of the lists were followedby either an immediate test of R-word recall or a distractor activity, and oneof the lists was followed by a prearranged signal to 5s to recall both R wordsand F words from that list. In general, the results implicate rehearsal andorganizational processes at input rather than suppression or selective retrievalprocesses during output as the mechanisms by which 5s achieve the simul-taneous recall and nonrecall of R words and F words, respectively.