Forgetting
An inability to retrieve
from LTM
But is forgetting necessarily a
retrieval failure?
• “RetrievaI failure” implies the information is
there and just not accessible.
• Was it inadequately stored, or learned,
when we acquired it?
• Has it actually decayed with time?
Important questions, because we
would like to know
• How might we minimize forgetting?
• How can we remember what we wish and
forget what we’d rather forget?
• Should we attempt to interfere with
forgetting, or does forgetting serve an
essential purpose?
Hermann Ebbinghaus
• In 1885, using himself as subject, studied
forgetting, using nonsense syllables
(why?)
• Plotted a forgetting curve, testing himself
at various intervals after learning, and
found that memory did decline with time
passage
I. Transience
Pattern of forgetting over time
• Early theorists suggested that decay of
memories accounts for forgetting
• Some evidence does suggest that unused
memories are forgotten.
Interference
• Recent research suggests much more
forgetting occurs due to Interference
• Proactive Interference: Previously learned
information inhibits our ability to remember
new information
• Retroactive Interference: New information
inhibits our ability to remember old
information
• Especially potent when retrieval cues are
identical or very similar
(e.g., learning new/forgetting old locker
combinations)
II. Blocking
Temporary inability to retrieve
something known
Very common: forgetting the name of a CD,
someone’s name you know, etc.
TOT Phenomenon
• Experienced as inability to recall a fact,
word, name, etc., that we are absolutely
certain we know and have stored in LTM;
The memory is temporarily inaccessible.
For example,
>Patronage bestowed on a relative, in
business or politics is
• Often due to interference from words
similar in sound, number of syllables, 1st
letter, etc.: they keep recurring as we try to
remember target word
>An astronomical instrument for finding
position is
III. Absentmindedness
Inattentive or shallow encoding
of events
Where your keys are, name of person you
just met, whether you took your vitamins,
etc.
• Described as explaining “change
blindness” – inability to detect changes to
an object or scene
• Well-known example: individual asking
directions “changes” to another person
Amnesia
• Extreme forgetting: inability to retrieve vast
quantities of information from LTM
• Anterograde and retrograde