Triggering memory recovery: Effects of direct and incidental cuing

► The dropout-induced-forgetting paradigm produced very large forgetting effects for both emotional and neutral stories. ► Recovery of forgotten stories was demonstrated using vignettes as cues and titles as memory targets. ► Pictures evoked recovery of stories, but only when used as intentional cues, not when pictures were seen incidentally. ► Emotional and neutral stories, naturalistic materials, are susceptible to powerful forgetting effects. ► Memory recovery is triggered only when cues are used intentionally, not when they are encountered incidentally.