Forgetting

Encoding Failure

Encoding Failure We fail to encode the information. It never has a chance to enter our LTM.

Storage Decay Even if we encode something well, we can forget it. Without rehearsal, we forget things over time. Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve.

Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve

Retrieval Failure The memory was encoded and stored, but sometimes you just cannot access the memory.

Types of Retrieval Failure Proactive Interference The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. If you call your new girlfriend your old girlfriend’s name.

Types of Retrieval Failure Retroactive Interference The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. When you finally remember this year’s locker combination, you forget last year’s.

Motivated Forgetting We sometimes revise our own histories. Honey, I did stick to my diet today!!!!!!

Motivated Forgetting One explanation is REPRESSION: Why does it exist? One explanation is REPRESSION: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness.

Forgetting

Improving memory Study repeatedly – spacing effect Make the material meaningful Activate retrieval cues Use mnemonic devices Minimize interference Sleep more Test your own knowledge

Memory Construction We sometimes alter our memories as we encode or retrieve them. Your expectations, schemas, environment may alter your memories.

Misinformation Effect Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.

Misinformation Effect Depiction of Accident

Misinformation Effect Leading Question: About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

Source Amnesia (Source Attribution) Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about or imagined.