The Cognitive Mechanism Of Directed Forgetting

In recent years, psychologists pay more attentions to the study of forgetting, especially directed forgetting. It becomes the focus of the research. Directed forgetting is about the forgetting's deliberate and directive natures. Directed forgetting is an important function of human being.This study designs two experiments in order to explore the cognitive mechanism of directed forgetting. The first experiment considers the type ,the nature and the processing depth of the experiment materials and tries to explore how the different types of vocabulary and the different nature of the same words in different depths of the directional processing impact the directed forgetting. The second experiment considers the interference information and makes it together with the processing depth of the experiment materials. And it is especially in order to explore how the interference information impact the directed forgetting . The following conclusions base on the experimental results analysis.1. There are many causes that affect the directed forgetting. If there is only one theory can not explain how directed forgetting form. The selective rehearsal and the retrieval inhibition both play important roles on the forming of directed forgetting. What is more, the inhibition of the forgotten items does not only appear at the retrieval stage but also appears at the study stage. The subjects may pay less attentions to the forgotten items when they study the words at the study stage.2. The type of the experiment's materials also can affect the directed forgetting. When the experiment's materials are different they plays different roles on the directed forgetting. And the nature of the experiment's materials also can affect the directed forgetting.3. The depth and elaboration of processing of the experiment's materials also affect the directed forgetting. And its impact refers to the type of experiment's materials. What is more, some experiment's materials' depth and elaboration of processing may be impacted by the guidance language of directed forgetting. 4. The interference information impact the directed forgetting. The interference information's impact on the remember items is not obvious, but its impact on the forgotten items is very obvious. And its effect refers to the the guidance language of directed forgetting, but not affected by the depth and elaboration of processing of the experiment's materials.