The effects of positive and negative retrieval cues on release from retroactive interference

The following study examined the effects of positive and negative retrieval cues within a release from retroactive interference design. Predictions based upon a modification to the cue-overloading hypothesis were evaluated. Subjects were 79 Introductory Psychology students. They learned two lists, each composed of four-legged animals, and were tested for recall of the originally-learned list. Informed subjects were supplied with a retrieval cue for the interpolated list to provide a release from retroactive interference. All subjects were further divided into those who were released by becoming aware during original learning and those who were not. Comparisons revealed a reliable and comparable degree of release for both postinformation groups as well as the uninformed-aware group. Further, released subjects who used semantically-based (positive) retrieval cues exhibited a lower rate of forgetting over the two-week retention interval than those who used episodically-based (negative) cues, though the difference was nonsignificant. Implications for future research within a proposed theoretical framework are discussed