//Forgetting Flashcards
Why do we forget information from STM
- due to an availablity problem- the information is no longer available because of the limited capacity or the limited duration of STM
- the information may have been pushed out (displaced) or have faded away (decayed)
Why do we forget information from LTM
- caused by decay (an avilability problem)
- information was stored but is hard to retreieve- accessibility problem
- information is confused- interference problem
Explain the primary-recency effect in STM
- the order in which information is learned determines how reliably it will be recalled
- the first item in a list is initially distinguished from previous activities as important (Primary effect) and may be rehearsed and transferred to long term memory by the time of recall
- items at the end of the list are still in STM (Recency effect) at the time of recall
- those in the middle may have been displaced
What is the Interference Theory (IT)
- forgetting is a result of one memory competing with, confusing or disrupting other information, leading to inaccurate recall
- likely to occur when memories are smiliar
What is proactive interference
- occurs when information stored previously interfers with an attempt to recall something new
- works foward in time
What is retroactive interference
- occurs when coding new information disrupts information stored previously
- works backwards in time
Henk Schmidt et al (2000)- remembering the street names of one’s childhood neighbourhood- aim
-to assess the influence of retroactive interference upon the memory of street names during childhood
Henk Schmidt et al (2000)- remembering the street names of one’s childhood neighbourhood- method
- 700 names were selected randomly from 1700 former students of a Dutch elementary school. Sent a questionnaire
- 212 pps responded and were given a map of the Molenberg neighbourhood
- the 48 street names were replaced with numbers
- they were asked to remeber as many of them as possible
- other relevant details were collected e.g. how many times they moved house
- the amount of retroactive interference experienced was assessed by the number of times individuals had moved to other naighbourhoods or cities. 25% of pps had never moved
Henk Schmidt et al (2000)- remembering the street names of one’s childhood neighbourhood- findings
-positive association between the number of times pps had moved house outside the Molenberg neighbourhood, and the number of streets forgotten
Henk Schmidt et al (2000)- remembering the street names of one’s childhood neighbourhood- conclusion
- findings suggest that learning new patterns of street names when moving house makes recalling an older pattern of street names harder to do
- retroactive interference does seem able to explain forgetting in some real life situations
Henk Schmidt et al (2000)- remembering the street names of one’s childhood neighbourhood- evaluation
- extraneous variables may have confounded results e.g. those who had played extensively in the neighbourhood would probably have learned the street names to a greater degree to those who hasn’t
- possible to conduct research on retroactive inference in real life settings
Baddeley and Hitch (1977)
- players who had played a varying number of rugby union games to remember as many of the teams they had played against as possible
- IT was tested, by assessing how recall was affected by the number of games played
- trace decay theory tested by assessing the amount of time that had passed between each game played
- forgetting due to number of games played rather than time passed- supporting interference
Strengths of interference theory
- has research support, which were highly controlled lab experiments
- evidence for interference existing in real world settings e.g. you might struggle to remeember your French vocab if you later start learning German
Weaknesses of interference theory
- seems much greater in artificial lab settings than they do in real life so it may not be as strong as a theory once thought
- gives us an explanation for why we forget, but it doesn’t go into the cognitive or biological process involved- doesn’t fully explain how or why interference happens
What is cue dependent forgetting
- occurs when information is still in LTM, but cannot be accessed
- sees recall as dependent upon retrieval cues
- recall is dependent upon accessing the information by remebering the retreival cue under which the information is stored