Explanations of forgetting
- Created by: Former Member
- Created on: 21-02-14 14:49
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- Explanations of forgetting
- Retrieval failure theory
- We forget as the correct retrieval cues aren't being used ('It's on the tip of my tongue!')
- Cue dependent forgetting:
- State dependent forgetting- absence of relevant psycho/physiological variables present during learning (internal cues)
- Context dependent forgetting- relevant cues present when learning occurred aren't at recall (variables are external cues)
- Lack of consolidation
- If learning doesn't become fully recorded, such as due to lack of time, or interrupted by a bang on the head, STM isn't consolidated and memories aren't stored for long-term access
- Trace decay
- Neural traces left when information enters STM dies away without rehearsal
- Hebb- whilst learning occurs, the engram (change in neural tissue representing what's learnt) eventually formed is delicate and liable to disruption as an active trace
- With learning, the engram grows stronger and can become permanent
- Only applies to STM, as when we rehearse material, corresponding activity causes a structural change- no longer a trace
- Interference theory
- Interference at the beginning of the storage process can prevent new information from entering LTM. As the LTM store grows, so does interference between competing memories
- 2 types:
- Retroactive- recent learning interferes with recalling past information
- Proactive- earlier learning interferes with present learning
- Displacement theory
- When slots in STM are full, older items are displaced by incoming information
- Motivated forgetting theory
- Conscious memory causing anxiety is instead repressed into the inaccessible unconscious
- People 'trying hard' to recall may stop/change the subject when nearly recalling
- The more we try to recall, the more likely memory will be repressed
- Unconscious memories can be accessed through Freudian techniques like free association, or break through in dreams or slips of the tongue
- Repressed memories are retrieved when relevant emotional tension is released
- Retrieval failure theory
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