Forgetting Notes

Forgetting: Refers to the inability to retrieve previously stored information.

What you should know: The hippocampus is an area of the brain which plays a role in memory.

Complete Box 1 Memory Test pg 378

Forgetting Curve: Shows the pattern (rate and amount) of forgetting that occurs over time.

Draw Figure 10.2 pg 376

·      More than half of memory loss occurs within the first hour after learning.

·      Around 65% of information will be lost after 8 hours.

·      Information that is retained will be stored in memory for a long period of time.

·      The more meaningful the material that has been learnt, the slower the rate of forgetting.

·      The better the initial learning, the more likely the information is to be retained,  due to the type of encoding.

Theories of Forgetting

Retrieval Failure Theory: Also referred to as cue-dependent forgetting. We sometimes forget because we lack or fail to use the right cues to retrieve information stored in memory. Suggests that memories are not actually forgotten, they are just unavailable because the cue being used is inappropriate.

Activity: Think of as many animals as you can, three things that are round, four kinds of food that you like.

This activity shows that you are able to retrieve information from LTM by using a cue to help you locate the information in LTM.

Retrieval Cue: Any stimulus that assists the process of locating and recovering information stored in memory. Cues do not only have to be questions, they can be a smell, a sound or a picture, which results in the retrieval of information from LTM.

Tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon: Feeling of being aware of knowing something, being confident you will remember it at any moment, but not being able to retrieve the information at that point in time.

ACTIVITY: Learning Activity 3 pg 381

Interference Theory: Proposes that forgetting in LTM occurs because other memories interfere with the retrieval of what we are trying to recall, particularly if the other memories are similar.

There are two main types of interference: retroactive interference and proactive interference.

Retroactive Interference: When new information interferes with the ability to remember old information.

ACTIVITY: Telephone Number Activity pg 383

Proactive Interference: Information learned previously can interfere with our ability to remember new information. In order to interfere, the information needs to be similar in both cases (New and old information).

Draw Figure 10.8 pg 386

Motivated Forgetting: Is used to describe forgetting that arises from a strong motive or desire to forget, usually because the experience is too disturbing or upsetting to remember. There are two types: repression and suppression.

Repression: An unconscious process through which an individual blocks a memory of an event. People are thought to repress memories as a defence mechanism because they are too painful or traumatic to remember. Freud suggests that these traumatic memories do not just disappear, they are just not available during normal waking consciousness. This is why they can appear through nightmares (during an altered state of consciousness when we do not have control of our thoughts and feelings).

Suppression: Involves being motivated to forget an event or experience by making a deliberate, conscious effort to keep it out of conscious awareness. Research has shown that if people actively try to forget a memory then they are less likely to be able to remember it.  People are also able to modify memories that we do recall to give it a more positive spin.

Decay Theory: Forgetting occurs because a memory (or the memory trace) fades through disuse as time passes, unless it is reactivated by being used occasionally.

The decay theory assumes that when memories are stored in LTM that they create a chemical trace and over time if that memory is not activated, it fades away, like a physical structure over time (Eg, paint over time fades away).

Organic Causes of Forgetting: Are those which have a physiological cause such as brain damage to an area which is responsible for memory, due to an injury, stroke or disease (Can be a result of malnutrition, alcoholism or ageing). Memory loss which is organic is usually called amnesia.

Dementia: Gradual reduction of the brain’s oxygen supply and general atrophy (degeneration) of the brain produce an overall reduction in cognitive ability, including memory failure and memory loss.

Amnesia: Refers to loss of memory, either partial or complete, temporary or permanent. Two types of amnesia that we are looking at: Anterograde amnesia and Retrograde amnesia.

Anterograde Amnesia: When brain damage causes loss of memory for events that occur AFTER the brain injury. They are still able to maintain their memories BEFORE the brain injury, but find it difficult to learn new information, remember people they meet, etc.

According to the information processing model, the new information makes it to STM but is unable to be encoded to be transfer to storage in LTM, which results in a loss of the information (Duration and capacity of STM ensures that information cannot stay there for a long period of time).

Discuss H.M on pg 395

Show Nartube clip of Clive Wearing

Korsakoff’s Syndrome: Is a disorder, which is suffered by long term alcoholics, which is due to damage to the hippocampus in the brain. They can remember everything from their past, however they can never remember anything new for a long period of time. They can learn how to work a new DVD player one day and will completely forget the next day no matter how much they tried to memorise anything.

Research suggests that damage to the hippocampus is a cause of anterograde amnesia. Studies on monkeys, in which their hippocampus was removed showed that they displayed symptoms similar to that of people with anterograde amnesia.

Retrograde Amnesia: When brain damage causes memory loss of events experienced BEFORE the brain injury. They may not recall a few weeks before the incident or even a few years. This type of amnesia is usually caused by some sort of blow to the head and is only a temporary loss of memory.

Read about 22 year old greenkeeper pg 399