Forgetting Flashcards
Forgetting
Inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, storage or retrieval.
Encoding Failure
We cannot remember what we did not encode…if we
aren’t paying attention or entering the information into
our long-term memory in the first place, we will not be able to retrieve it later…because it doesn’t exist!
- Memory is not magic!
meaning- you don’t pay enough to begin with to encode it in your memory
Storage Decay
Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay…yet not deletion!
memory can fall short ware and tare
Retrieval Failure
Although the information is retained in the memory
store it cannot be accessed.
you just can’t remember at all
maybe like injury
Storage Decay
Ebbinghaus showed storage decay with his forgetting curve… the initial drop in retention of info, but it evens out over time.
- Believe this is due to gradual fading of the memory trace in the brain… the connections aren’t as strong and efficient as they once were.
forgeting curve
Bahrick (1984) did similar research, but for “very long
term” memory, and showed similar effects as Ebbinghause (just over years not days).
The biggest loss of information is in the immediate years
right after learning it, then the retention is steady for the
rest of our lives.
Retrieval Failure
TOT is a retrieval failure, but the main retrieval failure you’ll need to know about is Interference = when
information blocks the retrieval of other information.
Proactive Interference
When old information interferes with/blocks the retrieval of new information
Retroactive Interference
When new information interferes with/blocks the retrieval of older information
Studies show that sleeping immediately after learning or
studying information, aids the retention of that info.
Motivated Forgetting
People unknowingly revise their memories; we don’t remember items we don’t WANT to remember
Repression - example of motivated forgetting
Defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing
thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
why do we forget?
sensory meory - the sense momentarily register amazing detail
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v
short term memory - a few items are both noticed and encoded
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v
long term memory - some items are altered or decay
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v
retrieval from LTM- depends on interference cues, moods and motives
forgetting can occur at any memory stage we filter, alter or lose much information during these stages
But not all memory loss is due to factors of “forgetting”.
Some memory loss can be due to structural damage to the brain.
AMNESIA
Partial or complete loss of memory due to physical or
psychological DAMAGE.
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Physical damage to some part of the brain
(Alzheimer’s, disease, stroke, brain
trauma.
Psychological damage could be triggered
by a traumatic event. Most memories
return over time (usually within a few
days).
Anterograde
no new memories
Inability to remember ongoing events after the incidence of trauma or the onset of the disease that caused the amnesia
Retrograde
Inability to remember events that occurred before the incidence of trauma or the onset of the disease that caused the amnesia
