The role of item strength in retrieval-induced forgetting

Abstract

In 3 experiments, the role of item strength in the retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm was tested. According to the inhibition theory of forgetting proposed by M. C. Anderson, R. A. Bjork, and E. L. Bjork (1994), retrieval-induced forgetting should be larger for items that are more strongly associated with the category cue. In the present experiments, the authors varied item strength on the study list by manipulating the position of an item within its category (Experiments 1 and 2) and by the number of presentations in the study phase (Experiment 3). Contrary to the predictions from inhibition theory, in all 3 experiments, stronger items did not show more retrieval-induced forgetting than weaker items.