focus their attention on the upcoming list. after the participants have conducted the study phase for the first list, a second list is presented. a final test is then given, sometimes for only the first list and other times for both lists. the participants are asked to remember all the words they studied. when participants are told they are able to forget the first list, they remember less in this list and remember more in the second list. list method directed forgetting demonstrates the ability to intentionally reduce memory retrieval. to support this theory, researchers did an experiment in which they asked participants to record 2 unique events that happened to them each day over a 5-day period in a journal. after these five days, the participants were asked to either remember or forget the events on these days. they were then asked to repeat the process for another five days, after which they were told to remember all the events in both weeks, regardless of earlier instructions. the participants that were part of the forget group had had worse recall for the first week compared to the second week. there are two theories that can explain directed forgetting: retrieval inhibition hypothesis and context shift hypothesis. the retrieval inhibition hypothesis states that the instruction to forget the first list hinders memory of the list-one items. this hypothesis suggests that directed forgetting only reduces the retrieval of the unwanted memories, not causing permanent damage. if we intentionally forget items, they are difficult to recall but are recognized if the items are presented again. the context shift hypothesis suggests that the instructions to forget mentally separate the to-be-forgotten items. they are put into a different context from the second list. the subject's mental context changes between the first and second list, but the context from the second list remains. this impairs the recall ability for the first list. psychogenic amnesia main article: psychogenic amnesia motivated forgetting encompasses the term psychogenic amnesia which refers to the inability to remember past experiences of personal information, due to psychological factors rather than biological dysfunction or brain damage psychogenic amnesia is not part of freud's theoretical framework. the memories still exist buried deeply in the mind, but could be resurfaced at any time on their own or from being exposed to a trigger in the person's surroundings. psychogenic amnesia is generally found in cases where there is a profound and surprising forgetting of chunks of one's personal life, whereas motivated forgetting includes more day-to-day examples in which people forget unpleasant memories in a way that would not call for clinical evaluation. psychogenic fugue main article: fugue state psychogenic fugue, a form of psychogenic amnesia, is a dsm-iv dissociative disorder in which people forget their personal history, including who they are, for a period of hours to days following a trauma. a history of depression as well as stress, anxiety or head injury could lead to fugue states. when the person recovers they are able to remember their personal history, but they have amnesia for the events that took place during the fugue state. neurobiology prefrontal cortex motivated forgetting occurs as a result of activity that occurs within the prefrontal cortex. this was discovered by testing subjects while taking a functional mri of their brain. the prefrontal cortex is made up of the anterior cingulate cortex, the intraparietal sulcus, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. these areas are also associated with stopping unwanted actions, which confirms the hypothesis that the suppression of unwanted memories and actions follow a similar inhibitory process. these regions are also known to have executive functions within the brain. the anterior cingulate cortex has functions linked to motivation and emotion. the intraparietal sulcus possesses functions that include coordination between perception and motor activities, visual attention, symbolic numerical processing, visuospatial working memory, and determining the intent in the actions of other organisms. the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex plans complex cognitive activities and processes decision making. the other key brain structure involved in motivated forgetting is the hippocampus, which is responsible for the formation and recollection of memories. when the process of motivated forgetting is engaged, meaning that we actively attempt to suppress our unwanted memories, the prefrontal cortex exhibits higher activity than baseline, while suppressing hippocampal activity at the same time. it has been proposed that the executive areas which control motivation and decision-making lessen the functioning of the hippocampus in order to stop the recollection of the selected memories that the subject has been motivated to forget. examples war american soldiers on the battle front of the korean war. motivated forgetting has been a crucial aspect of psychological study relating to such traumatizing experiences as rape, torture, war, natural disasters, and homicide. some of the earliest documented cases of memory suppression and repression relate to veterans of the second world war. the number of cases of motivated forgetting was high during war times, mainly due to factors associated with the difficulties of trench life, injury, and shell shock. at the time that many of these cases were documented, there were limited medical resources to deal with many of these soldiers' mental well-being. there was also a weaker understanding of the aspects of memory suppression and repression. case of a soldier (1917) the repression of memories was the prescribed treatment by many doctors and psychiatrists, and was deemed effective for the management of these memories. unfortunately, many soldiers' traumas were much too vivid and intense to be dealt with in this manner, as described in the journal of dr. rivers. one soldier, who entered the hospital after losing consciousness due to a shell explosion, is described as having a generally pleasant demeanor. this was disrupted by his sudden onsets of depression occurring approximately every 10 days. this intense depression, leading to suicidal feelings, rendered him unfit to return to war. it soon became apparent that these symptoms were due to the patient's repressed thoughts and apprehensions about returning to war. dr. smith suggested that this patient face his thoughts and allow himself to deal with his feelings and anxieties. although this caused the soldier to take on a significantly less cheery state, he only experienced one more minor bout of depression. abuse many cases of motivated forgetting have been reported in regards to recovered memories of childhood abuse. many cases of abuse, particularly those performed by relatives or figures of authority, can lead to memory suppression and repression of varying amounts of time. one study indicates that 31% of abuse victims were aware of at least some forgetting of their abuse and a collaboration of seven studies has shown that one eighth to one quarter of abuse victims have periods of complete unawareness (amnesia) of the incident or series of events. there are many factors associated with forgetting abuse including: younger age at onset, threats/intense emotions, more types of abuse, and increased number of abusers. cued recovery has been shown in 90% of cases, usually with one specific event triggering the memory. for example, the return of incest memories have been shown to be brought on by television programs about incest, the death of the perpetrator, the abuse of the subject's own child, and seeing the site of abuse. in a study by herman and schatzow, confirming evidence was found for the same proportion of individuals with continuous memories of abuse as those individuals who had recovered memories. 74% of cases from each group were confirmed. cases of mary de vries and claudia show examples of confirmed recovered memories of sexual abuse. legal controversy motivated forgetting and repressed memories have become a very controversial issue within the court system. courts are currently dealing with historical cases, in particular a relatively new phenomenon known as historic child sexual abuse (hcsa). hcsa refers to allegations of child abuse having occurred several years prior to the time at which they are being prosecuted. unlike most american states, canada, the united kingdom, australia and new zealand have no statute of limitations to limit the prosecution of historical offenses. therefore, legal decision-makers in each case need to evaluate the credibility of allegations that may go back many years. it is nearly impossible to provide evidence for many of these historical abuse cases. it is therefore extremely important to consider the credibility of the witness and accused in making a decision regarding guiltiness of the defendant. one of the main arguments against the credibility of historical allegations, involving the retrieval of repressed memories, is found in false memory syndrome. false memory syndrome claims that through therapy and the use of suggestive techniques, clients mistakenly come to believe that they were sexually abused as children. in the united states, the statute of limitations requires that legal action be taken within three to five years of the incident of interest. exceptions are made for minors, where the child has until they reach eighteen years of age. there are many factors related to the age at which child abuse cases may be presented. these include bribes, threats, dependency on the abuser, and ignorance of the child to their state of harm. all of these factors may lead a person, who has been harmed, to require more time to present their case. as well as seen in the case below of jane doe and jane roe, time may be required if memories of the abuse have been repressed or suppressed. in 1981, the statute was adjusted to make exceptions for those individuals who were not consciously aware that their situation was harmful. this rule was called the discovery rule. this rule is to be used by the court as deemed necessary by the judge of that case. psychogenic amnesia main article: psychogenic amnesia severe cases of trauma may lead to psychogenic amnesia, or the loss of all memories occurring around the event.