Forgetting Memory Construction and Memory Improvement

Are there advantages to forgetting stuff. What would the hassles be of not being able to forget anything?

Amnesia Retrograde Amnesia Those who cannot remember their past “Retro” means going backward, like a retro look for a party Anterograde Amnesia Those who cannot form new, explicit memories but implicit, automatic memory not affected.

Two-track Mind Case studies about these two types of amnesia confirm we have two distinct memory systems, controlled by different parts of the brain. Forgetting for most of us is quite a bit less dramatic. There can be problems with Encoding Storage Retrieval

Encoding Failure Much of what we sense we never notice What we fail to encode, we don’t remember Encoding slows with age, so age can affect encoding

Encoding Failure

Retrieval Cues Sometimes it helps to have some sort of stimulus to help us remember. This is called a Retrieval Cue. Priming Context Dependent State Dependent Encoding Specificity

Storage Decay Even after encoding something well, we sometimes later forget it. Herman Ebbinghaus conducted research in this area.

Storage Decay

Retrieval Failure Often forgetting isn’t memories faded but memories unretrieved. Sometimes important memories defy our attempt to retrieve them. Retrieval cues may help. Such as “It begins with an M.”

Retrieval Failure

Interference As you collect more and more information your mental attic gets cluttered. Sometimes your clutter interferes as new learning collides with old. Proactive Interference Proactive Interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. Retroactive Interference Retroactive Interference is the disruptive effect new learning has on the recall of old information.