5: Forgetting

Question 1

What are the 2 types of forgetting?

Answer 1

incidental & motivated

Question 2

define: incidental forgetting

Answer 2

forgetting that occurs without the intention to forget

Question 3

define: motivated forgetting

Answer 3

Purposefully diminish access to memory (e.g., unwanted memories)

Question 4

what characterises superior autobiographical memory?

Answer 4

Ø Feels as though the person relives the events they remember
Ø Remembering is “automatic”, effortless, and not under conscious control
Ø Cannot forget unpleasant memories
Ø Memories can be distracting

Question 5

Describe the forgetting curve

Answer 5

§Logarithmic relationship
§Forgetting rapid initially
§Less additional forgetting at longer intervals

Question 6

In Meeter’s 2005 forgetting rate study, how did the forgetting rate change in a year?

Answer 6

Recall for events dropped from 60% to 30% in a year

Question 7

In Bahrick’s 1975 yearbook study, how did recall and recognition differ?

Answer 7

§ Recognition of classmates’ faces/names remained intact
§ Match up names with faces also unimpaired
§ Recall a name when given a person’s pictures was extensively impaired
§ Rate of forgetting was similar to Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

Question 8

What is the testing/ generation effect?

Answer 8

Repeated attempts to retrieve – (testing effect/ generation effect) builds up resistance to forgetting

Question 9

What is Jost’s Law?

Answer 9

O§All else equal, older memories are more durable and forgotten less rapidly than newer memories
New memories are more vulnerable to disruption/distortion until they are consolidated

Question 10

define: consolidation

Answer 10

The process that transforms new memories from a fragile state, in which they can be disrupted, to a more permanent state, in which they are resistant to disruption.

Question 11

define: reconsolidation

Answer 11

The process by which a consolidated memory restabilises again after being reactivated by reminders.

During the reconsolidation a memory is vulnerable to disruption.

Question 12

define: trace decay

Answer 12

memories weaken due to passage of time

Question 13

define: context shifts

Answer 13

– different cues are available now than the
ones available at encoding

Question 14

define: interference

Answer 14

similar memories hinder retrieval

Question 15

What are the 2 opposing biological mechanisms that explain trace decay

Answer 15

Synaptic connections degrade and neurons die as time goes by = memories may die or fade in the same way

Neurogenesis (growth of new neurons – esp. in hippocampus) means that the structure is remodelled and its connections are gradually modified

Question 16

What are the 3 criticisms of trace decay

Answer 16

• Behaviourally it is difficult to prove trace decay
• Two important factors cannot be controlled when attributing forgetting to decay:
  1) Rehearsal
  2) Interference
• Are memories unavailable or simply inaccessible?

Question 17

What are correlates of time and how do they effect retrieval?

Answer 17

it is not the passing of time itself but the contextual fluctuations and interference that occurs that leads to forgetting

Question 18

define: competition assumption

Answer 18

Memories associated to a shared cue automatically impede retrieval when the cue is presented (competitors interfere with finding the target memory)

Question 19

define: proactive interference

Answer 19

The tendency of older memories to interfere with retrieval of recent experiences and knowledge

Question 20

define: retroactive interference

Answer 20

The tendency of newer memories to interfere with retrieval of older experiences and knowledge

Question 21

What is necessary for retroactive inference to occur?

Answer 21

Not every type of intervening experience impairs memory – the experience needs to be similar

Question 22

Which is a better predictor of forgetting, time or interference?

Answer 22

Interference

Question 23

What is part-setting cue impairment?

Answer 23

type of associative blocking, when given cues that are not useful, it impedes retrieval

Question 24

What is retrieval induced forgetting?

Answer 24

remembering causes forgetting of other related information that is not recalled (incomplete retrieval)

Question 25

define: associative blocking

Answer 25

A cue fails to elicit a target trace because it repeatedly elicits a stronger competitor, leading people to abandon efforts to retrieve target

Question 26

define: associative unlearning

Answer 26

Associative bond linking a stimulus to a memory trace is punished by weakening it after a competitor is retrieved in error