2.7 - Forgetting & Other Memory Challenges

Question 1

Forgetting curve

Answer 1

hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it

Question 2

encoding failure

Answer 2

he brain’s occasional failure to create a memory link. Encoding refers to the brain’s ability to store and recall events and information, either short or long-term. This faculty can fail for a number of reasons; trauma or substance use being the most common.

Question 3

proactive interference

Answer 3

occurs when past information interferes with learning new information.
You have many strong memories of a previous friend, and this memory makes it difficult to learn the new friends name.
You had to change email passwords, but you keep typing the old one and can’t seem to memorize the new one.

Question 4

retroactive interference

Answer 4

occurs when new stimuli/learning interferes with the storage and retrieval of previously formed memories.

Question 5

inadequate retrieval

Answer 5

It occurs when the retrieval cues are insufficient or absent, making it difficult to access the desired information.

Question 6

tip-of-the-tongue

Answer 6

Sometimes, the memory itself does not decay. Instead, what decays are the associations and links that help us find our way to the stored memory.
As a result, some stored memories seem just below the surface: “I know the name…it starts with a B maybe…”

Question 7

repression

Answer 7

Sigmund Freud believed that we sometimes make an unconscious decision to bury our anxiety-provoking memories and hide them from conscious awareness. He called this repression.

Question 8

misinformation effect

Answer 8

Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event—this leads to false memories

Question 9

source amnesia

Answer 9

forgetting where the memory came from (the source), which can lead to confusion, false memories, and the accuracy of a memory.
Examples of how a memory could be misattributed include:

from a movie you saw, or book you read?
from a dream?
from a sibling’s experience?

Question 10

constructive memory

Answer 10

Memory not only gets forgotten, but it gets constructed (imagined, selected, changed, and rebuilt).

Question 11

memory consolidation

Answer 11

using working memory to send memories into long term storage

Question 12

imagination inflation

Answer 12

When people are asked to recall an event, even if it didn’t happen, we begin to believe it is real and even add details (inflate) to the story.