Can inhibition resolve retrieval competition through the control of spreading activation?

Saunders, Jo and MacLeod, Malcolm (2006) Can inhibition resolve retrieval competition through the control of spreading activation? Memory and Cognition, 34 (2). pp. 307-322. ISSN 0090-502X

Full text not available in this repository.Request a copy

Abstract

Two experiments are reported in which the mechanisms underlying retrieval-induced forgetting for complex prose materials were investigated, using the independent probe technique pioneered by Anderson and Spellman (1995). These experiments provide additional empirical evidence in support of an inhibitory account of memory. Specifically, evidence emerged not only for the inhibition of nonpracticed items from practiced sets (i.e., first-order effects), but also for the inhibition of items from nonpracticed sets that were semantically related to practiced items in practiced sets (i.e., cross-category effects) and for items from nonpracticed sets that were semantically related to nonpracticed items in practiced sets (i.e., second-order effects). These findings are considered in terms of Anderson and Spellman's model of inhibitory processing. We also outline an alternative inhibitory interpretation. Specifically, we consider how inhibition may function as a way of controlling the spread of activation and what implications this may have for the flexibility and adaptiveness of memory.

ORCID iDs

Saunders, Jo ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2634-9713 and MacLeod, Malcolm;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)