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... > process > planned process > study method > study method of memory > objective study method of memory > think/no-think paradigm

Preferred term

think/no-think paradigm  

Definition

  • An experimental procedure for studying intentional forgetting of unwanted memories (Anderson & Green, 2001). Subjects are asked to study pairs of semantically unrelated words. They should be able to recall the right word when the left word is presented. An executive control task is then proposed. A cue is presented and subjects must either give the associated response or not think of the response. In the final phase, subjects must recall the response for each pair of words. The results show that memory for words that were given a "no-think" instruction is worse than memory for words that were given a "think" instruction and for words that were given neither a "think" nor a "no-think" instruction.

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Related concepts

Synonym(s)

  • think-no-think task
  • TNT
  • TNT paradigm
  • TNT procedure

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Anderson, M. C., & Green, C. (2001). Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control. Nature, 410(6826), 366–369. https://doi.org/10.1038/35066572

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

  • • Nardo, D., & Anderson, M. C. (2024). Everything you ever wanted to know about the Think/No-Think task, but forgot to ask. Behavior Research Methods, 56(4), 3831–3860. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-024-02349-9

    • Document type: literature review

    , replication

    , tutorial

    • Access: open

  • • Singer, A., Darchi, S., Levy, D., & Sadeh, T. (2024). Intentional forgetting needs intentional remembering. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(3), 827–836. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001536

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

  • • Wessel, I. (2024). Suppression-induced forgetting as a model for repression. Topics in Cognitive Science, 16(4), 731–751. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12684

    • Document type: literature review

    • Access: open

  • • Wessel, I., Albers, C. J., Zandstra, A. R. E., & Heininga, V. E. (2020). A multiverse analysis of early attempts to replicate memory suppression with the Think/No-think Task. Memory, 28(7), 870–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1797095

    • Document type: empirical study

    , replication

    • Access: open

    • Dataset reference: Wessel, I., Heininga, V. E., Albers, C. J., & Zandstra, A. R. E. (2022, January 14). Early Attempts at Replicating Memory Suppression with the Think/No-Think task. https://osf.io/qgcy5
  • • Wessel, I., Lehmann, R., & Wiechert, S. (2025). Two replications of Wiechert et al.’s (2023) online Think/No-Think study in undergraduate students. Memory, 33(1), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2412025

    • Document type: empirical study

    , replication

    • Access: open

    • Dataset reference: Wessel, I., Lehmann, R., & Wiechert, S. (2024, August 26). Replication Studies of Wiechert et al. (2023). https://osf.io/j9sm8

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Study method of

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-JFXTXT0C-4

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