Spreading of Suppression in Memory

Active forgetting is drawing more and more attention as a different mode of forgetting in addition to processes such as
decay and interference. Some experimental paradigms indicate that instructing participants to suppress retrieving some
studied items leads to inhibition of those items in the later test of these items. Just as activation of a memory trace
spreads to similar memory traces, it might be the case that suppression spread of a trace spreads to surrounding traces
too. A recent study provides possible support for this claim. However, the design, inconsistent stimuli, and the focus of
this study prevent conclusively explaining the results as spreading of suppression. Addressing these missing aspects of
this study with different designs might help us explore the claim of spreading of suppression in memory.