DOI: 10.11648/j.ss.20261504.16 ISSN: 2326-988X

Dual-Pathway Mechanism of Socially Shared Retrieval-Induced Forgetting: Shared Attention Theory Perspective and Applications in the Intelligent Era

Jiatong Wu
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At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly reshaping the socioeconomic landscape, intelligent education platforms, social media recommendation algorithms, and multi-agent systems are increasingly intervening in human information processing and memory construction processes. While these technologies enhance cognitive efficiency, they may also trigger systematic social forgetting, profoundly affecting the formation and evolution of collective memory. Socially Shared Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (SS-RIF) refers to the forgetting effect that listeners exhibit toward related but unmentioned information due to monitoring speakers' selective retrieval during social interactions. Although this effect has been repeatedly confirmed across diverse material types and group situations, existing research has long relied on individual cognitive co-retrieval mechanisms to explain it, failing to fully account for its significant social situational dependence. Based on shared attention theory, this paper proposes a dual-pathway model to systematically elaborate the mechanisms underlying SS-RIF: the cognitive resource redistribution pathway and the social motivation regulation pathway. Through theoretical analysis and systematic literature review, this study distinguishes between cognitive-level shared attention and motivation-level shared reality, and analyzes the integrated roles of inhibitory and blocking mechanisms in this process. Furthermore, aligning with the conference theme of AI empowerment for economy, management and social sciences, this paper explores the application prospects of SS-RIF in intelligent education, smart justice, and multi-agent interaction. The findings suggest that SS-RIF is not merely a cognitive byproduct but a social cognitive strategy with shared attention at its core, providing a theoretical framework for understanding collective memory formation and social cognitive coordination in the intelligent era.

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