Retrieval Practice of Event-Based Narratives

Retrieval practice can cause forgetting of related information, an effect that can be eliminated for integrated information. Participants in the current study read narratives, had retrieval practice of a subset of sentences directed at surface form (Experiments 1 and 3) or event model memory (Experiment 2), and took a recognition test to measure three levels of narrative memory: the surface form (verbatim memory), textbase (propositional memory), and event model (gist memory). Surface form retrieval practice improved surface form memory but impaired event model memory for practiced sentences. However, event model retrieval practice did not impair event model memory and somewhat reduced surface form memory. Findings of simultaneous facilitation and impairment of practiced sentences at different levels of memory cannot be explained by classic theories of retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). The results argue for consideration of an event cognition theory to explain RIF.