The Effect Of Motivation Intensity And Nature On Directional Forgetting

The directed forgetting has become an important research area since 1965. It is a cognitive phenomenon that individuals are unable to recognition and recall after they read the “forgetting” instruction from the experimenter. The directed forgetting is influenced by motivation like the directed remembering. Our research was aimed to explore the effect of motivation on directed forgetting involved with intensity and nature of motivation when participants were undergraduates. In study 1, the independent variables were the participants’ motivation intensity(low vs. middle vs. high), and the dependent variables were ACC and RT about directed forgetting. It was aimed to explore the effects of motivation intensity on directed forgetting. The results showed that:(1) there was an effect of directed forgetting on meddle intensity of motivation about ACC;(2) there was a longer RT about item that “to be forgetting” in coding.In study 2, the independent variables were the nature of motivation(rewards vs. punishment), and the dependent variables were ACC, RT and ERPs(in coding) about directed forgetting. It was aimed to further explore the effects of nature of motivation on directed forgetting, and reveal the time course of directed forgetting induced by rewards and punishment. The results showed that:(1) there were both positive effect on directed remembering;(2) For directed forgetting, punishment induced a more significant P300 than rewards, but only rewards had a positive effect on directed forgetting, and punishment had a negative effect on it;(3) Compared with rewards, punishment made individuals spend more cognitive resource finish the tasks of directed forgetting;(4) whatever rewards or punishment, the DM effect of “to be remembering” instruction was more consistent than “to be forgetting” instruction’s. In general, the directed forgetting is a conscious cognitive process, and there is an effect of motivation on it which positive effect is from the middle intensity. Further, motivation is more flexible and positive on directed forgetting from rewards rather than punishment.