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 Forgetting is the flip side of memory.  Forgetting can occur at any one of the three stages  Long-term memory holds large amounts of information and the material is represented in an abstract form › Forgetting and other memory errors can occur › New information can become mixed with material you already know › Old learning can interfere with new learning  Studying similar foreign languages for example Chapter 7 2 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Nonsense Syllables: meaningless sets of two consonants with a vowel in the middle used by psychologists to measure basic memory tasks › Recognition › Recall › Relearning  Because nonsense syllables are meaningless, remembering them depends on acoustic coding (saying them out loud or in your mind) and mechanical repetition (maintenance rehearsal) Chapter 7 4 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Recognition: identifying objects or events that have been encountered before › Easiest of the memory tasks  Example: multiple choice tests  The ability of people to recognize familiar faces is much stronger than the ability to recall names  Recall: to bring a memory back to mind › It must be reconstructed in your mind › Ability to recall is very high immediately after learning, but the ability to recall drops within an hour  After the first hour, memory loss becomes more gradual Chapter 7 6 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

7 Chapter 7 FIGURE 7.11 Some of the distractor items used in a study of recognition memory and encoding failure. Penny A is correct but was seldom recognized. Pennies G and J were popular wrong answers.

8 Chapter 7 Relearning: With some study and effort we can usually relearn fairly rapidly things we once knew but have forgotten

Car Flower Desk Key Video Carpet Magnet Radio Ice Peanut Bench Clock Briefcase Envelope Nail

Chapter 7 10 Recall as many words as you can: Recognition: Which words were in the list: Car Flower Table Envelope Nail Apple

 Most of the time, forgetting is due to interference or decay—the fading away of memory › Both are part of normal forgetting › They occur when memory traces fade from sensory or short-term memory › Also occurs in long-term memory when something that has been stored there cannot be retrieved Chapter 7 11 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

Extreme forms of forgetting  Repression: forgetting things by pushing them out of our consciousness › According to Freud, we sometimes forget things on purpose without even knowing we are doing it › Some memories are so painful and unpleasant that they make us feel anxiety, guilt, or shame › We repress feelings to protect ourselves › Very controversial topic among contemporary psychologists Chapter 7 12 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Amnesia: severe memory loss caused by brain injury, shock, fatigue, illness, or repression › Dissociative amnesia is thought to be caused by psychological trauma (an extremely upsetting experience or series of experiences) Chapter 7 13 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Infantile Amnesia: forgetting early events that occur before age three › People who think they remember their birth have probably constructed the memory from other memories  Remembering what they were told by parents  The birth of another sibling Chapter 7 14 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Freud explained it in terms of repression  Young children often have aggressive and sexual feelings toward their parents but they forget these feelings as they get older  More likely biological and cognitive factors  The part of the brain involved in the storage of memories (hippocampus) does not become mature until we are about 2  Brain pathways are incomplete for the first few years so memory formation is inefficient Chapter 7 15 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Cognitive reasons for infantile amnesia: › Infants are not interested in remembering the past › They don’t weave episodes together into meaningful stories like older children and adults › They don’t have the language to symbolize or classify events  Ability to encode sensory input is limited  Infantile amnesia refers to memory of specific events (episodic memory) › We remember many things using semantic and implicit memory Chapter 7 16 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

 Anterograde Amnesia: memory loss from trauma that prevents a person from forming new memories › Trauma to the brain caused by a blow to the head, electric shock, or brain surgery › Damage to the hippocampus  Retrograde Amnesia : People forget the period leading up to a traumatic event › Accidents › Severe cases can cause many years of memory loss Chapter 7 17 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

IMPROVING MEMORY  Drill and Practice – doing something over and over again (repetition) › How we learn most basic information › Using flashcards to drill yourself to make a connection between two items › Using a person’s name right away when you first meet them helps to remember them late Chapter 7 18 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement

IMPROVING MEMORY  Relating to Things You Already Know – (elaborative rehearsal)  Forming Unusual Associations – making an unusual or humorous association with something else to help you recall the information  Constructing Links – constructing a meaningful link between items  Using Mnemonic Devices – systems for remembering information Chapter 7 19 Section 4: Forgetting and Memory Improvement