1. When Memory Fails FORGETTING

2.  Decay Theory - Ebbinghaus  “Memory fades over time.”  The more often you revisit information, the better you will remember  Examples?  What does this theory leave out?  Interference Theory  “Learning more = Remembering Less”  Routine/Common events compete for memory space  Examples?  Retroactive: New information interferes with remembering old information  Proactive: Old information interferes with remembering new *Which of these have you experienced with school? THEORIES

3.  Retrieval Theory  Encoding Failure: information never gets encoded into our brains  Small details  Information encountered but never used  Lack of Retrieval: trouble accessing information, even though we know it  “Tip of the Tongue” Phenomenon: the information is at the edge of your grasp but unable to be fully accessed  ie: “I know her name starts with a B….”  Repression – Freud  “Motivated forgetting”  Psychological defense mechanism  Protects us from awareness of traumatic or stressful information  These memories do not disappear; they remain in the mind, just hidden  Recovering these memories? Reliable? Would you?  How common? THEORIES

4.  Retrograde  Loss of memory of pasts events  More recent events typically lost, rather than entire memory or old events  Anterograde  Inability or difficulty storing new memories  Childhood Amnesia  Normal for everyone  Few memories prior to age 3 ½  Language development, organization of memories  Brain development for lasting memories  Causes  Blows to the head  Degenerative brain disease (Alzheimer’s)  Blockage of blood vessels to brain  Infectious diseases  Chronic alcoholism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcL24s-S6ns AMNESIA

5.  Write down in as much detail as you can a specific memory you have  Who, what, when, where, why, how  Emotions, sensory observations (touch, taste, smell, sound, sight)  For Tuesday: have someone else who was there right down their version of the events  Tuesday: reflection process, comparing the two accounts of the event HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY