Retrieval-induced semantic interference

The long-term negative effect of semantic retrieval on the subsequent accessibility of related material has been extensively studied in separate memory and language production literatures. Though ostensibly studying the same phenomenon, these literatures have remained separated by different framings and methodologies. We argue for integration of the two research streams in an adaptive learning perspective and present a bridging experiment as a proof of concept of this approach. The experiment implemented a multiphase retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) design (with generation and memory assessment phases) in combination with the use of naming latency measures and the temporal analysis of interference featured in language production research. The generation phase, typically unanalyzed in the memory literature, examined generation time for category-stem completions as a function of ordinal positions of related items. There was strong cumulative interference in generation latencies in the first pass through the structured list, showing that memory is already affected in this phase. After a retention interval, accessibility of new items from previously activated categories, and unactivated controls, was assessed using continuous picture naming rather than aggregate memory measures. Crucially, there was a picture naming cost to previously activated (but not generated) category members relative to the control condition, a RIF effect. This cost was supervenient on new cumulative interference and was evident only in the beginning of the assessment phase, underlining the value of the positional analyses. The findings add important detailing to the processes underlying retrieval-induced costs in memory research while also showing that retrieval-induced semantic interference transfers from stem-completion to picture naming retrieval tasks. This format-independence is consistent with a conceptual basis of semantic interference but does not preclude a locus of adaptive learning in conceptual-lexical links. Overall, we show that the memory and language production fields indeed provide different but complementary perspectives on the same semantic interference phenomenon. Combining the fields promises to be productive.