Stimulus generalization, context change, and forgetting

Bibliographic Data

ID5551925
AuthorsMark E Bouton (0000-0001-6601-2977, University of Vermont), James B Nelson (0000-0001-7225-725X), Juan M Rosas (0000-0002-5383-9876)
Year1999
Volume125
Issue2
Pages171-186
Publication date1999-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychological Bulletin (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2909 • E-ISSN: 1939-1455
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.171
PMID10087934
OpenAlexW1986062959
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited4

Forgetting is often attributed to retrieval failure caused by background contextual cues changing over time. However, generalization between stimuli may increase over time and make them increasingly interchangeable. If this effect occurs with contextual cues, it might cancel any effect of a changing context. The authors review the evidence and suggest a resolution of this paradox. Although generalization gradients can change over time, the effect is not always strong. Increased responding to nontarget stimuli is not often shown, and few studies have demonstrated such changes with contextual cues in a way that rules out other interpretations. Even this example of forgetting may be caused by retrieval failure. The physical contexts manipulated in learning and memory experiments themselves occur within a superordinate temporal context and can thus be forgotten with no inherent challenge to a context-change account of forgetting

Cognitive psychology · Context (archaeology) · Cue-dependent forgetting · Forgetting · Generalization · Retrieval-induced forgetting · Stimulus (psychology) · Superordinate goals · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Mathematics · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Memory Processes and Influences · Psychology · Social Psychology

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