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Retrieval-induced forgetting is inversely related to everyday cognitive failures.

Article Excerpt
Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that the successful retrieval of a memory trace apparently inhibits the retrieval of rival memory traces. Thus, when certain items from a particular category of words are practised, retrieval of the unpractised items in that same category is suppressed, so that they actually become harder to retrieve than similar items from a completely unpractised category. This phenomenon was first demonstrated by Anderson, Bjork, and Bjork (1994), who presented their participants with word pairs, each consisting of a category word and an example of an item from that category (e.g. fruit-banana). The list contained further items from the same category (e.g. fruit-apple), and others from different categories (e.g. drink-whisky). Half of the items from certain categories (e.g. fruit) were subjected to retrieval practice. When retrieval was subsequently tested for all of the previously untested items, it was found that untested items from a tested category gave lower recall scores than those from an untested category. Anderson et al. (1994) concluded that the earlier retrieval of an item from a particular category had somehow inhibited the retrieval of other items from the same category. The RIF phenomenon has now been confirmed by a large number of studies (e.g. Anderson et al., 1994; Barnier, Hung, & Conway, 2004; Bauml & Hartinger, 2002; MacLeod, 2002; MacLeod & Macrae, 2001; Perfect, Conway, Moulin, & Perry, 2002; Smith & Hunt, 2000). RIF has also been shown to occur in realistic settings involving meaningful items, such as revising for an examination (Macrae & MacLeod, 1999) and eyewitness memory for details of a crime (MacLeod, 2002; Shaw, Bjork, & Handal, 1995).

A number of recent studies suggest that RIF works by inhibiting the retrieval of rival items, rather than merely reflecting the blocking of rival items by the strengthening of a cue-item association. In the first place, RIF is found to be cue-independent, in that its effects generalize to inhibit items semantically related to the cue but not tested with that cue (e.g. Anderson & Spellman, 1995; Anderson & Bell, 2001). Moreover, it has been shown that RIF is observed only when retrieval has taken place, and is not brought about by passive study such as rereading the test items (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 2000; Bauml, 2002; Ciranni & Shimamura, 1999). It has also been found that RIF is dependent on interference,...

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