Theories of long term memory : Theories of forgetting

Theories of Forgetting
Why do we forget???
o Several theories have been posed to explain this phenomenon:
1.  Decay theory of forgetting
2.  Interference theory of forgetting
3.  Repression

Decay Theory of Forgetting
The oldest concept which states that stored information decays and is disintegrated with the passage of time.
Criticism against the decay theory
1) It can be taken as a general explanation of how forgetting takes place, but can not be accepted as the actual reason, i.e. the process of forgetting.
2) At times recollection of memories occurs after a long passage of time, which is an experimentally proven
fact, and this theory fails to explain this phenomenon.
 

As decay theory could not explain the actual process of forgetting, another theory emerged, called interference theory of forgetting.

Interference Theory of Forgetting
•  Interference results when the recall of the learned phenomena is blocked/ displaced by other information.
•  John Jenkins and Karl Dallenbach (1924) were the first ones toexperimentally prove the role of interference in forgetting.
•  Experiments on students showed that they recalled non- sense syllables relatively well after waking from the sleep, than when they were fully awake for the whole day.
•  Maximum forgetting occurred when they were awake than when they were allowed to sleep which showed that interference of the activities and happenings has a relationship with forgetting.
•  Interference, however, sometimes is found to be helpful in the sense that it improves our ability to remember important events of life; not the exact and true characterization, but the important portions/ episodes
 

Retrieval of the learned phenomena may be influenced by the two processes:
 

i.  Proactive interference
ii.  Retroactive interference

Proactive interference
Proactive interference occurs when the already stored memories come in between or interfere with the recall of the newly learned material e.g., you learned psychology this semester and sociology in the last semester. When exam was taken in psychology, material from sociology, rather than that of psychology, kept coming into mind.
 

Retroactive interference
Retroactive interference occurs when the newly learned material interferes with or blocks our ability to recall the previously learned material
 

In the psychology-sociology example, when examinations were taken, the memories of newly learned
material (psychology) may interfere with recall of the formerly learned material (sociology).
 

Repression
•  Repression: putting the undesirable thoughts, events and fears into the unconsciousness and trying not to remember it again.
•  Repression is a Freudian concept”. In spite of being sent into the unconscious, unpleasant feelings continuously influence person’s attitudes and behaviors.

Improving Memory and Recall
•  Elaborative rehearsal
•  Mnemonics
•  Method of loci
•  The Keyword technique: Pairing foreign word witha similarly sounding common word in native language in order to remember the foreign word e.g., pairing English “amaze” with “maze’ in Urdu.

The Encoding Specificity Phenomenon
Information is best learnt and remembered at a time and place, or environment, similar to or same as the one where it was initially learnt.
 

Mental Organization of Text Material
When the material is being read for the first time, it should be in the memory.
 

Taking Notes
•  Take cue notes instead of taking down everything.
•  Listen and think too.
 

Other Strategies for Better Memory
•  Keeping distractions away
•  Chunking
•  Rhyming
•  Reading aloud
•  Sleep intervals

Improving Memory: Memory Skills for Students
 

Over learning
 

•  Learning the material over and over again.
•  Very effective in case of natural science, mathematics or history.
 

Mnemonics
Short devices that help encode information better. These provide ready cues for quick and accurate retrieval.