When learning about memory, don’t forget to remember Hermann Ebbinghaus! He was the first person to do scientific studies of forgetting. Hermann used himself as a subject, spending vast amounts of time trying to memorize endless lists of nonsense syllables and testing his memory on them. He found that he forgot most of what he learned during the first few hours of learning it.
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But of course today, we know that meaningful information fades more slowly than nonsense syllables. The rate at which people forget or retain information also depends on what method is used to measure forgetting and remembering.
Retention is the proportion of learned information that is retained or remembered — the flip side of forgetting. In other words, how much you remember. |
Measuring Memory: Recall, Recognition, Relearning
Recall
Recall is remembering without any external cues. For example, essay questions test recall of knowledge because nothing on a blank sheet of paper will jog the memory.
Recognition
Recognition is identifying learned information using external cues. For example, multiple-choice questions test recognition because the previously learned information is there on the page, along with other options. In general, recognition is easier than recall.
Relearning
When using the relearning method to measure retention, a researcher might ask a subject to memorize a long grocery list. She might measure how long he has to practice before he remembers every item. Suppose it takes him ten minutes. On another day, she gives him the same list again and measures how much time he takes to relearn the list. Suppose he now learns it in five minutes. He has saved five minutes of learning time, or 50 percent of the original time it took him to learn it. His savings score of 50 percent indicates that he retained 50 percent of the information he learned the first time.
Causes of Forgetting
Everyone forgets things. There are six main reasons for forgetting: ineffective encoding, decay, interference, retrieval failure, motivated forgetting, and physical injury or trauma.
Ineffective Encoding
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The way information is encoded affects the ability to remember it. Processing information at a deeper level makes it harder to forget. If the information is not encoded properly—such as if the student simply skims over the textbook while paying more attention to the TV—it is more likely to be forgotten.
Decay
According to decay theory, memory fades with time. Decay explains the loss of memories from sensory and short-term memory. People might easily remember their first day in junior high school but completely forget what they learned in class last Tuesday. |
Interference
Interference theory has a better account of why people lose long-term memory. According to this theory, people forget information because of interference from other information they’ve learned. There are two types of interference: retroactive and proactive.
Retrieval Failure
Forgetting may also result from failure to retrieve information in memory, if the wrong sort of retrieval cue is used. For example, Dan might not remember the name of his fifth-grade teacher. But the teacher’s name might suddenly pop into Dan’s head if he visits his old elementary school and sees his fifth-grade classroom. The classroom would then be acting as a context cue for remembering his teacher’s name.
Motivated Forgetting
Psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed people forget because they push unpleasant thoughts and feelings deep into their unconscious. He called this phenomenon repression. The idea that people forget things they don’t want to remember is also called motivated forgetting or psychogenic amnesia.
Physical Injury or Trauma
Anterograde: amnesia is the inability to remember events that occur after an injury or traumatic event.
Retrograde: amnesia is the inability to remember events that occurred before an injury or traumatic event.
References: Wikipedia, Sparknotes,Gaetan Lee, Ginger Blokey
