Selective restudy can reset recall of forgotten information.

Recall of studied material is typically impaired as time between study and test increases. Selective restudy can interrupt such time-dependent forgetting by enhancing recall not only of the restudied but also of the not restudied material. In two experiments, we examined whether this interruption of time-dependent forgetting reflects a transient or more lasting effect on recall performance.

Selective memory retrieval can revive forgotten memories.

Humans remember less and less of what was encoded as more and more time passes. Selective retrieval can interrupt such time-dependent forgetting, enhancing recall not only of the retrieved but also of the nonretrieved information. The recall enhancement has been attributed to context retrieval and the idea that selective retrieval reactivates the retrieved item's temporal context during study, which can facilitate recall of other items that had a similar context at study.