The waxing and waning of mnemic neglect.

The mechanisms underlying mnemic neglect (MN) and the conditions under which it waxes and wanes are not yet fully understood. The research in this article examined conditions during both encoding and recall that could potentially moderate the MN effect and that could provide cues about the cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the effect. Results showed that MN: (a) emerged after recall was delayed (Study 1); (b) could not be attributed to differential behavior looking time (Study 2); (c) did not emerge under cognitive load (Study 3); and (d) was not linked to the perceived extremity, importance, or evaluations of the behaviors. However, how informative the behaviors were perceived for personality may contribute to the effect (Study 4). Finally, results from Study 3 and Study 4 showed that when participants were cognitively occupied during encoding, the MN effect waned. Implications of these collective findings for the MN phenomenon were discussed.