incidental forgetting Flashcards
what is superior autobiographical memory?
uncontrolled remembering
what is ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve?
there is initial rapid memory loss but forgetting reduces over time
what did meeter et al (2015) discover about remembering public event?
failed recall dropped from 60% to 30% in the space of a year
what did bahrick et al (1975) discover about remembering personal events?
cued recall of name when given classmates face was impaired, with similar pattern to forgetting curve
what did bahrick (1984) discover about forgetting languages?
forgetting taught foreign language levels out after 2 years
what is availability?
an item may not have a memory trace anymore
what is accessibility?
an item may be stored but may not be accessible any more
what are 3 factors discouraging forgetting?
- better learning at the beginning
- repeated attempts of retrieval
- jost’s law
what did linton et al (1975) discover about incomplete/incorrect retrieval?
incomplete or incorrect retrieval leads to disrupted memories
are all memories equally vulnerable to disruption?
no, they are not all equally vulnerable due to the forgetting curve
what is jost’s law?
older memories are forgotten less rapidly than new memories
how long are new memories vulnerable for?
until they are consolidated
what is consolidation?
transforming memories from a fragile state to a permanent state
what is synaptic consolidation?
structural change of synaptic connections, memories are vulnerable until complete
how long can synaptic consolidation take?
hours or days
what is systems consolidation?
reorganisation of the neural circuit, traces in the cortex make their own links and memory shifts from hippocampus to cortex
how long does systems consolidation take?
months or years, memories are vulnerable when reliant on hippocampus
what is trace decay?
memories weaken due to the passage of time, memory’s activation fades
how does frankland et al (2013) say trace decay is related to neurogenesis?
trace decay is the opposite of neurogenesis, which is bad for memories in the hippocampus
which two factors cant be controlled in trace decay?
rehearsal and interference from new memories
what are the 2 correlates of time?
contextual fluctuation and interference
what is contextual fluctuation?
difference in context at encoding and retrieval
how does incidental context differ over time?
incidental context is more similar to recent past than remote past
what is interference?
cues become assoicated with similar memories which makes it difficult to discriminate between traces
why does interference disrupt retrieval?
memories associated to similar cues compete and hinder access to the target memory
what is retroactive interference?
new memories impair recall of old memories if they have similar cues
what did baddeley & hitch (1977) discover about retroactive interference?
newer rugby games interfere with recall of older games
what is proactive interference?
older memories interfere with the retrieval of recent memories
what determines the rate of forgetting newer memories in proactive retrieval?
the number of older experiences
what is part-set cuing impairment?
retrieval is impaired by cues from the same category of the target memory
what did slamecka (1968) discover about part-set cuing?
providing cues reduced retrieval of the target memory
what is anderson et al’s (1994) retrieval induced forgetting?
selective/partial retrieval harms recall of other memories related to the retrieved item
what did shaw, bjork & handal (1995) discover about retrieval induced forgetting?
interrogating ps about stolen items in crime scene impaired memory of related items
what does incomplete retrieval cause?
forgetting
what are 3 interference mechanisms?
associative blocking, associative unlearning, inhibition
what is associative blocking?
cue elicits stronger competitors impacting retrieval of target memory
what is associative unlearning?
retrieval errors weaken associative bonds
what is inhibition?
unwanted responses are stopped and alternative responses are strengthened
what does inhibition suggest about forgetting?
forgetting targets the memory rather than associative cues
what is the functional account of forgetting?
forgetting controls retrieval in the face of competitors and facilitates retrieval of strengthened memories
what did richards & frankland (2017) say is the goal of memory?
to guide decision making
what did richards & frankland (2017) say forgetting allows?
flexible behaviour and generalization of past experiences
