Forgetting As A Function of Forget Cue, Sentence Categorization, and State Anxiety.

The hypotheses of this study include: (1) intentional forgetting, operationalized by a forget signal, will produce augmented recall; (2) highly organized groups of sentences will produce the best recall; and (3) anxiety state will produce a complex interaction with the forget signal and degree of organization variable on the amount of materials recalled. Two experiments, one using a recall paradigm and one using a recognition paradigm were run using 40 and 80 male ROTC students respectively. All subjects were given a 20-item anxiety scale. This was followed by five experimentally assigned sentence lists. A forget signal was used. Tentative conclusions for both experiments are: (1) for the recall and recognition of sentences, the forget signal produces augmented recall but operates differentially depending on the degree of organization; (2) this process does not seem to proceed on the basis of rehearsal and dropouts; and (3) the anxiety state is negatively related to performance but not significantly so. (KJ)