The Influence Of Context Conversion On Retrieval-induced Forgetting

Retrieval-induced forgetting(RIF)refers to the practice of retrieval some previously learned materials,which will cause forgetting of other materials related to the practice materials.At present,the generation mechanism of RIF is still controversial,mainly including inhibition theory,intensity-based interference theory and context conversion theory.Inhibition theory believes that RIF is caused by the memory representation of materials that are in the same category as the practice material but not practiced,which is inhibited during the retrieval practice stage.According to the intention-based interference theory,the degree of association between practice materials and categories is strengthened during the retrieval practice,leading to the weakened degree of association between unpracticed materials and categories under the same category,resulting in forgetting during the final test.Context conversion theory refers to attributing RIF to the relevant context of the same category of unpracticed items in the learning stage,which is not matched with the test context,leading to forgetting.The research results on mechanism theory were inconsistent,but they can be explained uniformly using the theory of context conversion.In recent years,the research on the theory of context conversion was not comprehensive,and the influence of context factors needs to be further explored.This study recruited 192 college students,referring to experiments by Jonker et al.(2013).The context between study and practice was transformed into independent variables,and the recall effect of different types of learning materials was the dependent variable.Experiment 1 compared the effects of competitive retrieval and repeated learning practices on retrieval-induced forgetting during the retrieval practice phase.In order to investigate whether the key of retrieval-induced forgetting was the competitive retrieval behavior emphasized by the inhibition theory during the retrieval practice phase,or the competitive context conversion emphasized by the context conversion theory.Experiment 2controlled the type of context transformation when entering the practice phase,that was,the general mood in the learning phase was transformed into the mood of cooperative orcompetitive context when entering the practice phase.The effect of internal context transformation induced by task requirements on the retrieval-induced forgetting was observed.In order to explore the mismatch between the relevant situation information of non-practice items of the same category and the test situation leading to forgetting,experiment three controlled an external physical environment because it is easier to control than the internal psychological situation.In experiment three,the two groups of subjects were allowed to learn and practice(repeated learning)in different physical environments(study room VS laboratory),and then the two groups of subjects were tested in the two environments respectively,and we observed the influence of environmental transformation on the retrieval-induced forgetting.The results showed that:(1)When competitive retrieval was used in the practice phase,retrieval-induced forgetting occurred.However,when repeated learning was used,this phenomenon disappeared;(2)As long as the situational transition occurred during the practice phase,whether the mood was induced into a cooperative or competitive situation when entering the practice phase,retrieval-induced forgetting occurred;(3)After the context change of the practice phase,retrieval-induced forgetting occurred when left in the practice context for testing;however,when the learning context was resumed during the test,this forgetting phenomenon disappeared.Therefore,the results of this study demonstrated the important influence of context conversion on retrieval-induced forgetting and supported the theory of context conversion.