Dissociation: an examination of memory processes

A directed forgetting task, using the list-cuing method, was used to investigate whether dissociators differ in memory performance from non-dissociators when material is subject to an intention to forget. Three conditions were used to determine whether context affects memory performance: no load, neutral load, and evocative load. Dissociators showed poorer recall than nondissociators in the no load and neutral conditions while performance on a recognition task was equivalent. This indicates that dissociators can more successfully inhibit retrieval of material subject to an intention to forget under some circumstances. When presented with the evocative condition, dissociators did not maintain greater forgetting. It is hypothesized that the evocative condition makes associative cues more salient so that to-be-forgotten material is more readily accessed and inhibition of retrieval is less likely to occur. Subjects were also presented with a proactive interference task as another means of sampling inhibition of retrieval No differences existed between groups on this task.