Directed Forgetting Utilizing Abstract Visual Stimuli: A Paradigm for Studying Explicit Memory Control

Voluntary control over memory allows individuals to prioritize relevant information while reducing the influence of information that is no longer useful. Impairments in these mechanisms have been associated with psychiatric disorders including anxiety, PTSD and OCD. Directed forgetting provides a useful paradigm for studying explicit memory control, although most studies have relied on verbal or easily identifiable visual stimuli. Here, we developed a pilot item-method directed forgetting task using abstract geometric shapes to provide a controlled stimulus set suitable for future electrophysiological and aversive-learning studies. Participants encode abstract shapes followed by auditory cues instructing them to remember or forget each item. Memory is subsequently assessed using an old/new recognition task with novel foils and confidence ratings. We expect greater recognition sensitivity for remember-cued than forget-cued stimuli, supporting the use of abstract visual material for studying intentional memory regulation. By combining explicit memory-control instructions with easily reproducible, low-semantic stimuli, this paradigm aims to provide a flexible framework for investigating directed forgetting and the mechanisms underlying voluntary memory control.