Department of Experimental Psychology, Regensburg University, Regensburg, Germany.
Memory. 2023 Nov;31(10):1371-1386. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2267191. Epub 2023 Nov 21.
Research on item-method directed forgetting (IMDF) suggests that memories can be voluntarily forgotten. IMDF is however usually examined with relatively simple study materials, such as single words or pictures. In the present study, we examined voluntary forgetting of news headlines from (presumably) untrustworthy sources. Experiment 1 found intact IMDF when to-be-forgotten headlines were characterised as untrustworthy and to-be-remembered headlines were characterised as trustworthy. Experiment 2 separated remember/forget cues and trustworthiness prompts. Forget cues alone had a large effect on memory, but only a small reducing effect on perceived truth. In contrast, trustworthiness prompts alone had essentially no effect on memory, but a large effect on perceived truth. Finally, Experiment 3 fully crossed forget/remember cues and trustworthiness prompts, revealing that forget cues can reduce memory irrespective of whether headlines are characterised as trustworthy or untrustworthy. Moreover, forget cues may bias source attributions, which can explain their small reducing effect on perceived truth. Overall, this work suggests that news headlines can be voluntarily forgotten. At least when people are motivated to forget information from untrustworthy sources, such forgetting may be helpful for curtailing the spread of false information.
关于项目-方法定向遗忘（IMDF）的研究表明，记忆可以是自愿被遗忘的。然而，IMDF 通常是用相对简单的学习材料来进行检验的，例如单个单词或图片。在本研究中，我们考察了对（据推测）不可靠来源的新闻标题的自愿遗忘。实验 1 发现，当要遗忘的标题被描述为不可靠，而要记住的标题被描述为可靠时，就会出现完整的 IMDF。实验 2 分离了记忆/遗忘线索和可信度提示。仅遗忘线索对记忆有很大影响，但对感知真实性的影响很小。相比之下，仅可信度提示对记忆几乎没有影响，但对感知真实性有很大影响。最后，实验 3 完全交叉了遗忘/记忆线索和可信度提示，表明遗忘线索可以减少记忆，而与标题是否被描述为可靠或不可靠无关。此外，遗忘线索可能会产生来源归因偏差，这可以解释它们对感知真实性的影响较小。总的来说，这项工作表明，新闻标题可以被自愿遗忘。至少当人们有动力从不可靠的来源中忘记信息时，这种遗忘可能有助于遏制虚假信息的传播。
