Abstract:

When people are asked to recall items from a previously studied list and are given a subset of the items on that list as retrieval cues, they often do more poorly at recalling the remaining items on the list than do people asked to recall the items in the absence of such retrieval cues (Slamecka, 1968). Such part-list cuing effect has often been attributed to inhibitory executive-control processes that supposedly suppress the non-cue items′ memory representation. Our aim in the present study was to further evaluate the inhibitory executive-control account of part-list cuing effect. Using a new paradigm which combines the classical part-list cuing paradigm with emotional Stroop task, adopting a more sensitive index, the present study retested the retrieval inhibition hypothesis of part-list cuing effect. Four experiments were included. In Experiments 1, we explored whether the inhibition occurs after the presence of part-list cues by inserting the emotional Stroop task between the presence of part-list cues and the retrieval phase, In Experiments 2 and 3, we explored whether the inhibition still persist after the retrieval phase by inserting the emotional Stroop task after the retrieval phase, On the basis of Experiment 2 and 3, in Experiment 4, an inadequate retrieval time was used to further investigate the inhibition process during the retrieval phase. The findings showed that: when the emotional Stroop task was performed after the presentation of the part-list cues, the reaction time of part-list cuing recall group was shorter than free recall group; while when the emotional Stroop task was performed after the retrieval phase, no difference between part-list cuing recall group and free recall group was observed; and when the retrieval was not fulfilled, the reaction time of part-list cuing recall group was shorter than free recall group. The present findings revealed that in the part-list cuing effect, inhibition occurred as soon as the part-list cues were provided, and before the full completion of the retrieval task, the inhibition process would persist. The results support the retrieval inhibition hypothesis of part-list cuing effect, and do some supplement to the retrieval inhibition hypothesis—— the duration of inhibition was mediated by the retrieval task.

Key words: part-list cuing effect, emotional Stroop task, the retrieval inhibition hypothesis, the strategy disruption hypothesis