Directed Forgetting of Live Motion Events: An Investigation of a New Stimulus Set

Instructions to forget presented information are often given and it is necessary to further understand how those involved can be affected by what is called "directed forgetting". The purpose of the current study was to investigate if a video stimuli would produce directed forgetting using the list method and a recognition style test. In addition, viewing live motion events has been suggested to be a more relevant modality to examine directed forgetting and thus another purpose of the current study was to utilize video stimuli to create a more valid assessment of this phenomenon. Participants (N=181) were selected through the use of convenience sampling to participate in the current study. They viewed a video and then were instructed to either remember or forget this first video. They were then presented with a second video which was identical except for 8 specific manipulations. All participants completed a recognition test which included a confidence assessment for either the first or second video. The first hypothesis that participants who were instructed to forget a video and remember a second video would have lower recognition accuracy for the first video compared to those instructed to remember both videos, thus producing the directed forgetting phenomenon was not supported. Also, the hypothesis that participants who were instructed to forget the first video would have better recognition accuracy for the second video then those instructed to remember both videos was not supported. Finally, the hypothesis that participants who were instructed to forget the first video would have lower confidence in their answers on the first video and higher confidence on the second video compared to the remember groups who would have higher confidence on both videos was also not supported. Limitations and future directions are addressed.