1. Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Module 22: Forgetting- When Memory Fails Royalty-Free/CORBIS

2. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Forgetting: Herman Ebbinghaus

3. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Forgetting: When Memory Fails Decay –Loss of information through nonuse –Assumes that when new material is learned a memory trace appears (actual physical change in the brain Interference –Information in memory displaces or blocks out other information, preventing its recall

4. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Proactive Interference Information learned earlier interferes with recall of newer material

5. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Retroactive Interference Difficulty in recall of information because of later exposure to different material

6. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Biological Bases of Memory Long-term potentiation –Certain neural pathways become easily excited while a new response is being learned Consolidation –Changes in the number of synapses between neurons as the dendrites branch out to receive messages and memories become fixed and stable in long-term memory

7. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Memory Dysfunctions Alzheimer’s disease –An illness that includes among its symptoms severe memory problems Korsakoff’s syndrome –A disease afflicting long- term alcoholics

8. MODULE 22 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Memory Dysfunctions Amnesia –Memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties Retrograde amnesia –Memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event Anterograde amnesia –Loss of memory occurs for events following an injury Keith Brofsky/Getty Images