Retrieval and Forgetting AP Psychology

Forgetting An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval. Biological Reasons Experience Factors

Biological Factors Damage to the Hippocampus –Difficulty forming new memories –Diminished in Alzheimer’s patients Neurotransmitters play a role –Acetylcholine –Alzheimer’s patients show low levels of this Decay theory –Memories deteriorate because of the passage of time –Distractor Studies – information fades from STM

Decay Theory Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve.

Retaining Spanish Bahrick (1984) showed a similar pattern of forgetting and retaining over 50 years. Andrew Holbrooke/ Corbis

Biology Continued - Amnesia Memory loss caused by accidents, surgery, poor diet, or disease Retrograde amnesia –Loss of memory from prior to an accident or injury –Like a computer crashing without saving your essay.

Retrieval Failure Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed. Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue (What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with an H (hemoglobin).

Experiences can affect Memory Interference Retroactive interference –Occurs when new information interferes with information already in memory –The ‘retro’ old info is interfered with by the new

Interference First, consistent with cognitive dissonance theories, we are able to induce optimism or pessimism with the initial (random) wage assignment. With respect to the first-stage task, this implies that we can successfully manipulate one’s ability-beliefs in the lab. Secondly, subjects who received this low piece-rate in stage one were willing to accept significantly lower offers in a second-stage ultimatum game. This finding is striking, demonstrating the presence of both belief manipulation and spillovers of those beliefs into behavioral outcomes in an unrelated and distinct experimental environment

Retroactive Interference Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, it leads to better recall.

Interference Proactive interference –Occurs when information already in memory interferes with new information –Because of proactive interference, new learning is disrupted by old habits. –Psychologists have found that recall of later items can be improved by making them distinctive from early items. For example, people being fed groups of numbers to remember did much better when they were suddenly fed a group of words instead. This is called release from proactive interference

Interference Learning some new information may disrupt retrieval of other information.

I need a volunteer that knows their colors. Don’t read the words, just say the colors they’re printed in and as fast as you can

Red Yellow Green Blue Red Blue Yellow Green Blue Red

Interference When you look at the words you see both its color and meaning. When they are in conflict you must make a choice Experience has taught you that word meaning is more important than color so you retrieve that information. You are not always in complete control of what you pay attention to.

Interference

Experience and Forgetting Situational factors –Recall of information is better if environment is the same as when information was learned State-dependent memory –Recall of information is better if person is in the same physiological state as when information was learned Reconstruction –Memories can be altered with each retrieval –We do this to keep the schemata of our self and our environment

Context Effects Scuba divers recall more words underwater if they learned the list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they learned that list on land (Godden & Baddeley, 1975). Fred McConnaughey/ Photo Researchers

How to Reduce Forgetting Develop motivation Practice memory skills Be confident in your ability to remember Minimize distractions Stay focused Make meaningful connections to what is in long-term memory Use mental imagery Use retrieval cues Rely on more than memory alone Be aware of possible distortion due to schemata

Some “forgetting” isn’t a retrieval problem at all. Encoding Failure We cannot remember what we do not encode.

Which penny is real?

Motivated Forgetting Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories. Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. Sigmund Freud Culver Pictures

Why do we forget? Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. We filter, alter, or lose much information during these stages.