On the durability of retrieval-induced forgetting

Information retrieved from memory becomes more recallable in the future than it would have been otherwise. Competing information associated with the same cues, however, tends to become less recallable, at least for a while. Whether the latter effect—referred to as retrieval-induced forgetting—is persistent, or only transient, is the question that motivated the present research. Participants studied category-exemplar pairs, practised retrieving other exemplars of half the categories, and, finally, were tested for their ability to recall initially studied exemplars after a 5-min delay (half the items) and after 1 week (the remaining items). In addition, for half the categories, opportunities to restudy the exemplars were provided between cycles of retrieval practice. The results demonstrate that retrieval-induced forgetting can persist for as long as a week, but that such forgetting is eliminated when participants are intermittently reexposed to unpractised items during retrieval practice.