Liu Shaohang, Kent Christopher, Briscoe Josie
Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1QU, UK.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Mar 5;15(3):308. doi: 10.3390/bs15030308.
Retrieval practice enhances memory for practiced information, but at the price of impairing memory for unpracticed information, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). Evidence has shown that, for young adults, RIF can be eliminated after a long interval and when textual information is used as a memorandum. The current study aims to determine whether RIF is more durable and difficult to overcome for older adults due to their cognitive deficits. Both young and older participants completed a learning session on Day 1, during which they studied word pairs (Experiment 1) or scientific prose (Experiment 2). Then, they engaged in selective retrieval practice on Days 3, 5, or 7. Finally, they undertook a final test on Day 8. Experiment 1 showed no RIF for young but a robust RIF for older participants. Experiment 2 observed retrieval-induced facilitation for young but RIF for older participants. Although both young and older participants were encouraged to use an integration technique to facilitate learning during Experiment 2, the levels of integration only predicted the magnitudes of retrieval-induced facilitation for young but not for older participants. This study shows that older adults should be careful of carrying out selective retrieval because this may produce a more durable impairment in their memory for unpracticed information.
检索练习能增强对已练习信息的记忆，但代价是损害对未练习信息的记忆，这一现象被称为检索诱导遗忘（RIF）。有证据表明，对于年轻人来说，经过较长时间间隔且使用文本信息作为备忘录时，检索诱导遗忘可以消除。当前的研究旨在确定，由于认知缺陷，检索诱导遗忘对老年人来说是否更持久且更难克服。年轻和年长的参与者均在第1天完成了一个学习环节，在此期间他们学习了单词对（实验1）或科学散文（实验2）。然后，他们在第3天、第5天或第7天进行了选择性检索练习。最后，他们在第8天进行了最终测试。实验1表明，年轻人没有出现检索诱导遗忘，但年长参与者出现了强烈的检索诱导遗忘。实验2观察到，年轻人出现了检索诱导促进效应，但年长参与者出现了检索诱导遗忘。尽管在实验2中，年轻和年长的参与者都被鼓励使用整合技术来促进学习，但整合水平仅预测了年轻人检索诱导促进效应的大小，而对年长参与者则不然。这项研究表明，老年人在进行选择性检索时应谨慎，因为这可能会对他们未练习信息的记忆产生更持久的损害。
