Me 2.7 Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges

Question 1

Benefit of forgetting

Answer 1

Forgetting unimportant information helps us remember what matters most.

Question 2

Highly Superior autobiographical memory

Answer 2

Super memory being able to remember every detail, but interferes with normal life as junk memory fills up consciousness. One memory cues another.

Question 3

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 3

a type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories. Still can do automatic processing.

Question 4

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 4

the inability to recall or remember past experiences. Still can do automatic processing.

Question 5

Encoding Failure

Answer 5

Information never properly encoded into long-term memory.
Example: Not remembering someone’s name because you never fully paid attention to it

Question 6

Displacement

Answer 6

Information not encoded into long term memory being lost as more information come in replacing new ones.

Question 7

Storage decay

Answer 7

how information stored in the brain gradually fades away

Question 8

The forgetting curve

Answer 8

illustrates how time impacts memory retention
Key Point: Forgetting occurs rapidly after initial learning but levels off over time
Example: Quickly forgetting details of a new concept learned
in class, but retaining some core ideas over a longer period

Question 9

memory trace

Answer 9

A hypothetical change in the physical brain after memorisation.

Question 9

Retrieval failure

Answer 9

information that has been previously encoded and stored in long-term memory cannot be accessed or retrieved when needed.

Question 10

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

Answer 10

Knowing that you know
something but being unable to recall it at the moment
Example: Struggling to recall a familiar word or name

Question 11

Proactive Interference

Answer 11

Old information hinders the recall of new information
Example: Difficulty remembering a new phone number because an old one keeps coming to mind

Question 12

Retroactive Interference

Answer 12

New information makes it hard to recall old information
Example: Forgetting an old password after creating a new one

Question 13

Repression

Answer 13

According to psychodynamic theorists,
some memories are forgotten to protect the ego from distress

Example: Forgetting a traumatic childhood event
as a defence mechanism to avoid emotional pain

Question 14

Constructive Memory

Answer 14

Memories are woven together again, not simply retrieved.

Question 15

Reconsolidation

Answer 15

A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

Question 16

Misinformation Effect

Answer 16

Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event
Example: Misremembering details of an accident after hearing incorrect accounts from others

Question 17

Imagination Inflation

Answer 17

Enhanced memory for imagined events, which can lead to false memories
Example: Believing you experienced something that you only imagined or dreamed

Question 18

Source Amnesia

Answer 18

Inability to remember where, when,
or how previously learned information was acquired.
Example: Recalling a fact but not remembering whether you read it in a book or heard it from a friend