Lecture 4
Memory
“Theories of Memory”
The Forgetting Curve!
100%
Pythagoras (575495 B.C.) a Greek
philosopher, scientist,
and religious teacher
80%
He discovered
the Pythagoras
Theorem.
% REMEMBERED
60%
I think he was a
mathematician or
something.
40%
Greek guy.
Probably dead.
20%
Huh?
0%
TIME
ONE
DAY
7
DAYS
14
DAYS
63
DAYS
Understanding Your Enemy:
Forgetfulness
How Your Memory is Sabotaged…
•When you learn new idea, you’ll forget most of it
by end of day
•Studies/experiments have shown how quickly we
forget what we read & hear
•One experiment
students who read textbk.
chapt. forgot 46% of their reading after 1 day
•After 1 month, info. they were able to retain
from reading had dwindled down to 19%
•Thus, about 81% of what was originally read
was now lost!!
So…Why Do We Forget?!
Let’s take an in-depth look at 5 Theories of
Forgetfulness:
1.Fading Theory
2.Retrieval Theory
3.Interference Theory
4.Reactive Interference Theory
5.Pseudo-Forgetting Theory
FADING THEORY
•When you walk through tall grass first time, what
happens?
•What happens to fresh pathway if you don’t
repeatedly walk over it?
•What occurs when you walk over same path several
times a day, a week, etc.?
Using above analogy: If you learn a
fact but never use it, it will become
overgrown and eventually lost to the
Enemy of Forgetfulness.
RETRIEVAL THEORY
*You must figure out where a
fact is in the vast storehouse
of your mind.
*It has NOT been forgotten
but may be misfiled.
Interference Theory
*Memories are
like bunch of
competing
basketball
players all
fighting for a
spot beneath the
basket.
*Old memories
& facts try to
elbow out new
memories &
facts (and vice
versa!).
Some memories win; some memories
lose!
Reactive Interference Theory
toward facts plays crucial
•Your
role in how well you’ll recall them later.
If you’re bored spitless by a
topic or just can’t stand it,
remembering concepts will be
much more difficult.
On the other hand, how hard is
it to remember the plot of a
movie you love?
Pseudo-Forgetting Theory
I
Forgot!!
•People often say, “I
forgot!” whenever they
cannot remember a fact.
•The truth is forgetting may NOT be the
problem.
•The information may have never been
learned in the first place.
•A quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes:
A man must get a thing before he can
forget it.
•To remember, you must make conscious effort &
convince yourself the info. is worth knowing!!