1. MEMORY
Forgetting

2. Is forgetting a good thing?
Yes AND NO
Yes: gets rid of useless junk that would clutter up our thoughts
“S” the Russian genius went crazy because he remembered everything!!
No: its frustrating!

3. 3 sins of forgetting Absent-mindedness- inattention to details
Transience- storage decay over time
Blocking- inaccessibility of stored info

4. 3 sins of distortion Misattribution- source confusion
Suggestibility- misinformation effect
Bias- belief-colored recollections

5. Why do we forget? Encoding failure Storage decay Retrieval failure
Interference
Amnesia

6. 1. Encoding Failure never entered long-term memory
Older people encode slower
External----sensory----(attn)---short-term---(encoding)---Long-term
Events memory mem Mem.
OR --- (encoding failure)---FORGET!
What letters are on the #5 on a phone?

7. 2. Storage Decay Memories leave us even if encoded properly
*forgetting curve*
Example: learning Spanish
After 1 year--- retain 80%
“ 3 years---50%
“ 5 years ---40%
“25 years---38%
“50 years ---32%
*** forgetting levels off over time

8. 3. Retrieval Failure “It’s on the tip of my tongue!”
You know it’s there, but you don’t have the right resources or information to get it.
External---sensory---(attn)---STM---(encoding)---LTM
Events memory (retrieval)---
OR (failure)---FORGET

9. 4. Interference
1. something you learn now makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier.
Ex: teacher has new students- makes it harder to remember old student’s names
2. something you learn before makes it harder to recall something now.
Ex: if you move and get a new phone number, your old number might get in the way

10. 5. Amnesia The blocking of older memories and/or the loss of new ones
“blocking” because memories sometime return… “blocking” can be selective
3 explanations:
Blood and chemical loss to brain, changes brain’s ability to produce a memory
Trauma to head will disrupt neuro-transmission so memories can’t be stored, and erase memories that haven’t been moved into LTM.
Electric shock therapy- treats depression

11. Repression Freudian theory
Basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety causing memories to the unconscious
Aka…Motivated forgetting

12. Misinformation and Imagination effects
Read Elizabeth Loftus and answer the questions