F ORGETTING Year 12 Psychology Unit 3 Area of Study 2 (Chapter 7, Page 361)

Forgetting The inability to retrieve previously stored info. Information unavailable to you at the time you are trying to remember it. Information may still be stored in memory, but there is an issue with retrieval. Forgetting is has an adaptive purpose (it’s actually useful!): If we didn’t forget, our mind would be cluttered. Clutter would make it much harder to retrieve info. Retrieval would take a lot longer. Would recall not only the things you wanted to, but all the other things too (whether we wanted to or not).

F ORGETTING : T HE F ORGETTING C URVE Shows the pattern – rate (speed) and amount – of forgetting that occurs over time. Discovered by Herman Ebbinghaus (1885): Learned a series of lists containing 13 three-letter nonsense syllables (e.g. ‘nus’ - no specific meanings or personal associations) until he could recite them all without error twice in a row. Tested his recall for each list after specific periods of time. Forgetting is rapid soon after the original learning, then the rate gradually declines (levels out), followed by stability in the memories that remain.

Page 362 T HE F ORGETTING C URVE

F ORGETTING : T HE F ORGETTING C URVE More than half of memory loss occurs within the first hour after learning. Virtually all forgotten information (approx. 65%) is lost in the first eight hours. Information that isn’t quickly forgotten appears to be retained in memory over a long period of time. More meaningful the information is retained for longer. Amount & rate of forgetting are also influenced by how well info is initially encoded (better learning = longer retention). If well learned, difficulty of info & ability of learner do not effect rate of retention. Slow & fast learners forget at same rate. Activity: 7.1

F ORGETTING : T HE F ORGETTING C URVE Later research using many different kinds of information (not just nonsense syllables) supports Ebbinghaus’ initial findings and his Forgetting Curve. In all cases, rate of forgetting is rapid at the start, then eventually slows down until a point where further forgetting is barely noticeable. BUT when info is learned over a longer period of time (e.g. over weeks instead of in an hour) more info is retained, even though it is still forgotten at the same rate. Rate (speed) of forgetting remains the same, but the amount of information that is forgotten is less.

Page 363 T HE F ORGETTING C URVE – E XTENDED L EARNING T IME

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING Forgetting may occur because: The right retrieval cue or prompt is not used; There is interference from competing material; There is some underlying motivation not to remember; Memory fades through disuse over time. No single theory alone is able to explain all instances of forgetting.

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : R ETRIEVAL F AILURE T HEORY Lack/fail to use correct cues to retrieve stored info (also known as cue-dependent forgetting). Retrieval cue: any stimulus that assists the process of locating and recovering info. Acts as a prompt or hint that guides the search and recovery process. E.g. A question, a smell, an image, a situation, etc. Suggests memories stored in LTM aren’t forgotten, but temporarily inaccessible or unavailable because of an inappropriate or faulty cue. Common example: ‘mental blank’. Unable to recall something when you need to (e.g. during an exam or an interview), only to suddenly remember/recall that information at a later time.

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : R ETRIEVAL F AILURE T HEORY Tip-Of-The-Tongue Phenomenon: The feeling of being aware of knowing something, being confident you will remember, but not being able to retrieve it at that point in time. Suggests partial retrieval process : Even though you may remember semi-cues (e.g. what letter a word starts with), you can’t quite retrieve the specific information that you need. Reinforces argument that LTM is stored in an organised way & in a variety of forms (need correct retrieval cue; relevant information triggers more). Proves that retrieving is not ‘all-or-nothing’ process. Activity: 7.8

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : I NTERFERENCE T HEORY Forgetting occurs because other memories interfere with the retrieval. Interference is more likely if learning similar info, all at around the same time. The more similar the info (being learned & already in your memory), the more likely interference will occur. Retroactive Interference: new info interferes with the ability to remember old info. Proactive Interference: old info interferes with ability to remember new info. Activity: 7.9

Page 378 I NTERFERENCE OF S IMILAR I NFORMATION Retroactive Proactive

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : M OTIVATED F ORGETTING Forgetting that arises from a strong motive or desire to forget, usually because the memory is too upsetting. Repression: unconscious process where memory is blocked from entering conscious awareness. Form of self-protection (defence mechanism). Avoids unpleasant thoughts & feelings associated with the experience. Freud: Info is not lost… simply not accessible. May surface in dreams, Freudian slips or after related emotion (e.g. attached to negative trauma) is ‘diffused’ (e.g. through hypnosis, guiding the person through the process of addressing the memory).

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : M OTIVATED F ORGETTING Suppression: deliberate, conscious effort to keep info out of conscious awareness. Person remains aware of the experience, but consciously chooses not to think about it. The goal is to put it out of our mind. fMRI research highlights that if people don’t want to think about something and they actively try not to think about it, they are less likely to remember it. High activity in frontal cortical lobes suggests that they are mainly involved in suppression of memories. Motivational needs can also change tone & content of memories: May reconstruct bad memories to be more pleasant (the way we want them to be); Anxiety may overwhelm until information feels ‘blocked’.

T HEORIES OF F ORGETTING : D ECAY T HEORY Forgetting occurs because a memory trace or ‘engram’ fades through disuse (decays over time). Earliest theory. Explains forgetting in physiological terms. Most commonly believed theory. Gradual deactivation of neural pathways (believed to be involved in consolidation of memory). Does not appear that decay is simply due to the passage of time and the associated decay of memory traces. Rather, other factors (e.g. interference, poor retrieval cues) make memories difficult to retrieve. Activity: 7.13