Research ReportDetecting accelerated long-term forgetting: A problem and some solutions
Section snippets
Experiment 1
Experiment 1 aimed to test the hypothesis that the reduced rate of forgetting shown by Baddeley et al. (2019) and Stamate et al. (2020) stems from the tightly organised structure of the prose passages used. Experiment 1 adapted the original crimes material but tested a different crime at each delay in an attempt to avoid cross-delay priming effects. This is the method favoured by a number of earlier studies (e.g., Cassel et al., 2016; Jansari et al., 2010) who taught their participants a number
Experiment 2
This study departs from the use of text, using instead, recognition memory for lists of words. Verbal recognition memory tends to be easier than recall (Mandler et al., 1969), which allows a larger sample of items to be included, potentially increasing overall test reliability. Performance will however be limited by guessing rate. A simple two-alternative Yes-No recognition would have a 50% guessing rate, thus requiring lengthy lists for adequate sensitivity. We therefore opted for
Experiment 3
Experiment 3 aimed to replicate the findings of Experiment 2, but with a reduced delay between the immediate test and final test (7 days, instead of 28 days used in Experiment 2). It was predicted that no interaction would emerge between group and delay, in line with the findings from Experiments 1 and 2.
Experiment 4
Experiment 4 examined the effects of interpolating tests for visual scenes over a 28-day period. This experiment was therefore identical to Experiment 2, except that the materials were visual in nature instead of verbal.
Experiment 5
Experiment 5 aimed to examine the effect of interpolating tests on visual scenes over a period of 7 days.
General discussion
The present study forms part of an attempt to measure the rate of forgetting in individuals and hence allow the detection of ALF shown by a subsample of TLE patients. This condition is debilitating, but difficult to detect using existing standardised tests which typically only assess memory over delays of approximately 40 min (Baker & Zeman, 2017; Elliott et al., 2014). In order to detect ALF, patients should be tested across various delays, as its onset time and rapidity may considerably
Credit author statement
All four authors contributed to the design, running, analysis and writing of this study.
Author notes
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The data and materials are freely available on the Open Science Framework webpage: https://osf.io/4x23b/.
Open practices
The study in this article earned Open Data and Open Materials badges for transparent practices. Materials and data are available at https://osf.io/649af/?view_only=3d55c01f964d46eeb6882e9829b8e73b.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Deniz Erdil for assistance with the task development for Experiments 4 and 5, and all of the testers for their assistance with data collection.
References (50)
Rethinking interference theory: Executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting
Journal of Memory and Language
(2003)- et al.
The problem of detecting long-term forgetting: Evidence from the crimes test and the four doors test
Cortex
(2019) - et al.
Is the levels of processing effect language-limited?
Journal of Memory & Language
(2017) - et al.
When implicit learning fails: Amnesia and the problem of error elimination
Neuropsychologia
(1994) - et al.
What can amnesic patients learn?
Neuropsychologia
(1976) - et al.
Have we forgotten about forgetting? A critical review of ‘accelerated long-term forgetting’ in temporal lobe epilepsy
Cortex
(2019) - et al.
Forgetting in temporal lobe epilepsy: When does it become accelerated?
Cortex
(2016) - et al.
Dense retrograde amnesia, intact learning capability and abnormal forgetting rate: A consolidation deficit?
Cortex
(1993) - et al.
Measuring forgetting: A critical review of accelerated long-term forgetting studies
Cortex
(2014) - et al.
Intention, attention and long-term memory for visual scenes: It all depends on the scenes
Cognition
(2018)