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Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge

BACKGROUND: Selectively testing parts of learned materials can impair later memory for nontested materials. Research has shown that such retrieval-induced forgetting occurs for low-integrated materials but may be prevented for high-integrated materials. However, previous research has neglected one f...

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Autores principales: Kuhbandner, Christof, Pekrun, Reinhard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3575490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23441209
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056617
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author Kuhbandner, Christof
Pekrun, Reinhard
author_facet Kuhbandner, Christof
Pekrun, Reinhard
author_sort Kuhbandner, Christof
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Selectively testing parts of learned materials can impair later memory for nontested materials. Research has shown that such retrieval-induced forgetting occurs for low-integrated materials but may be prevented for high-integrated materials. However, previous research has neglected one factor that is ubiquitous in real-life testing: affective state. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated whether affect influences the resistance of integrated materials to retrieval-induced forgetting by inducing neutral, positive, or negative affect immediately before selectively testing previously learned textbook passages containing interrelated facts and concepts. As negative affect is known to promote a detail-oriented local processing style, we hypothesized that experiencing negative affect during testing may decrease the protective effects of integration and lead to reoccurrence of forgetting. By contrast, as positive affect is known to promote a relation-oriented global processing style, we hypothesized that experiencing positive affect may support effects of integration and prevent forgetting. Our findings are consistent with these predictions. No subsequent forgetting occurred when testing memories for integrated text materials in affectively neutral and positive states, whereas forgetting occurred when testing in negative states. A correlation analysis showed that forgetting decreased with higher positive affect, with participants experiencing high positive affect even showing facilitation instead of forgetting. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings indicate that affect can moderate the memory consequences of test taking and suggest that educators should use testing as a tool to improve memory with care.
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spelling pubmed-35754902013-02-25 Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge Kuhbandner, Christof Pekrun, Reinhard PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Selectively testing parts of learned materials can impair later memory for nontested materials. Research has shown that such retrieval-induced forgetting occurs for low-integrated materials but may be prevented for high-integrated materials. However, previous research has neglected one factor that is ubiquitous in real-life testing: affective state. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated whether affect influences the resistance of integrated materials to retrieval-induced forgetting by inducing neutral, positive, or negative affect immediately before selectively testing previously learned textbook passages containing interrelated facts and concepts. As negative affect is known to promote a detail-oriented local processing style, we hypothesized that experiencing negative affect during testing may decrease the protective effects of integration and lead to reoccurrence of forgetting. By contrast, as positive affect is known to promote a relation-oriented global processing style, we hypothesized that experiencing positive affect may support effects of integration and prevent forgetting. Our findings are consistent with these predictions. No subsequent forgetting occurred when testing memories for integrated text materials in affectively neutral and positive states, whereas forgetting occurred when testing in negative states. A correlation analysis showed that forgetting decreased with higher positive affect, with participants experiencing high positive affect even showing facilitation instead of forgetting. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings indicate that affect can moderate the memory consequences of test taking and suggest that educators should use testing as a tool to improve memory with care. Public Library of Science 2013-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC3575490/ /pubmed/23441209 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056617 Text en © 2013 Kuhbandner, Pekrun http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kuhbandner, Christof
Pekrun, Reinhard
Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title_full Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title_fullStr Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title_full_unstemmed Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title_short Affective State Influences Retrieval-Induced Forgetting for Integrated Knowledge
title_sort affective state influences retrieval-induced forgetting for integrated knowledge
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3575490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23441209
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056617
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