FORGETTING

Forgetting is the inability to remember. Psychologists generally use the term forgetting to
refer to the apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in long- term memory.
Munn (1967) defines forgetting as “the loss, permanent or temporary, of the ability to recall
or recognise something learned earlier”. Forgetting (retention loss) refers to apparent loss of
information already encoded and stored in an individual's long term memory. It is a
spontaneous or gradual process in which old memories are unable to be recalled from
memory storage.

Theories of Forgetting:
Forgetting is a universal phenomenon. It appears in every human being in some degree. The
concern about the causes of forgetting as to how and why it happens has led to extensive
research and development of some theories. Some of the important theories are

Forgetting information from short term memory (STM) can be explained using the theories
of trace decay and displacement.

Forgetting from long term memory (LTM) can be explained using the theories
of interference, retrieval failure and lack of consolidation.

TRACE DECAY THEORY OF FORGETTING

This explanation of forgetting in short term memory assumes that memories leave a trace in
the brain. A trace is some form of physical and/or chemical change in the nervous system.

Trace decay theory states that forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or fading of
the memory trace. Trace decay theory focuses on time and the limited duration of short term
memory.

This theory suggests short term memory can only hold information for between 15 and 30
seconds unless it is rehearsed. After this time the information / trace decays and fades away.
No one disputes the fact that memory tends to get worse the longer the delay between
learning and recall, but there is disagreement about the explanation for this effect.

According to the trace decay theory of forgetting, the events between learning and recall have
no effect whatsoever on recall. It is the length of time the information has to be retained that
is important. The longer the time, the more the memory trace decays and as a consequence
more information is forgotten. Decay theory proposes that memory fades due to the mere
passage of time. Information is therefore less available for later retrieval as time passes and
memory, as well as memory strength, wears away. When we learn something new, a
neurochemical “memory trace” is created. However, over time this trace slowly disintegrates.
Actively rehearsing information is believed to be a major factor counteracting this temporal
decline.
It is widely believed that neurons die off gradually as we age, yet some older memories can
be stronger than most recent memories. Thus, decay theory mostly affects the short-term
memory system, meaning that older memories (in long-term memory) are often more
resistant to shocks or physical attacks on the brain. It is also thought that the passage of time
alone cannot cause forgetting, and that Decay Theory must also take into account some
processes that occur as more time passes.
Trace decay refers to apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in an
individual's long term memory. It is often a gradual process in which old memories are
unable to be recalled from memory storage.
Ebbinghaus also employed a savings method to test his memory retention. He first counted
the number of times needed to rehearse a list of nonsense syllables in order to commit it to
memory. Then he counted the number of times it took to relearn the list after a period of time
had elapsed. If it look ten repetitions to learn the list the first time and five the second, the
savings would be 50 percent.
There are a number of methodological problems confronting researchers trying to investigate
the trace decay theory. One of the major problems is controlling for the events that occur
between learning and recall.

Clearly, in any real-life situation, the time between learning something and recalling it will be
filled with all kinds of different events. This makes it very difficult to be sure that any
forgetting which takes place is the result of decay rather than a consequence of the
intervening events.

Support for the idea that forgetting from short-term memory might be the result of decay over
time came from research carried out by Brown (1958) in the United Kingdom, and Peterson
and Peterson (1959) in the United States. The technique they developed has become known
as the Brown-Peterson task.

Evaluation

 There is very little direct support for decay theory as an explanation for the loss of
information from short-term and long-term memory.
  One of the problems with decay theory is that it is more or less impossible to test it.
In practice, it is not possible to create a situation in which there is a blank period of
time between presentation of material and recall. Having presented information
participants will rehearse it. If you prevent rehearsal by introducing a distracter task,
it results in interference.
 Decay theory has difficulty explaining the observation that many people can
remember events that happened several years previously with great clarity, even
though they haven't thought about them during the intervening period. If our
memories gradually decayed over time, then people should not have clear memories
of distant events which have lain dormant for several years. However, there is
evidence to suggest that information is lost from sensory memory through the process
of decay (Sperling, 1960).

DISPLACEMENT THEORY

Displacement seeks to explain forgetting in short term memory, and suggests it’s due to a
lack of availability.

Displacement theory provides a very simple explanation of forgetting. Because of its limited
capacity, suggested by Miller to be 7+/- 2 items, STM can only hold small amounts of
information.

When STM is 'full', new information displaces or 'pushes out’ old information and
takes its place. The old information which is displaced is forgotten in STM.

It was also assumed that the information that had been in the short-term store for the longest
was the first to be displaced by new information, similar to the way in which boxes might fail
off the end of a conveyor belt - as new boxes are put on one end, the boxes which have been
on the conveyor belt the longest drop off the end.

Support for the view that displacement was responsible for the loss of information from
short-term memory came from studies using the 'free-recall' method.

A typical study would use the following procedure: participants listen to a list of words read
out a steady rate, usually two seconds per word; they are then asked to recall as many of
words as possible. They are free to recall the words in any order, hence the term 'free recall'.

The findings from studies using free recall are fairly reliable and they produce similar results
on each occasion. If you take each item in the list and calculate the probability of participants
recalling it (by averaging recall of the word over all participants) and plot this against the
item's position in the list, it results in the serial position curve (Figure 1).
Fig 1. Simplified representation of the serial position curve for immediate recall

Good recall of items at the beginning of the list is referred to as the primacy effect and good
recall if items at the end of the list are referred to as the recency effect. The displacement
theory of forgetting from short-term memory can explain the recency effect quite easily. The
last few words that were presented in the list have not yet been displaced from short-term
memory and so are available for recall.

The primacy effect can be explained using Atkinson & Shiffrin's (1968) multi-store
model which proposes that information is transferred into long-term memory by means of
rehearsal.

The first words in the list are rehearsed more frequently because at the time they are
presented they do not have to compete with other words for the limited capacity of the short-
term store. This means that words early in the list are more likely to be transferred to long-
term memory.

So the primacy effect reflects items that are available for recall from long-term memory.
However, words in the middle of the list used to be in short term memory until they were
pushed out - or displaced by the words at the end of the list.

Evaluation

Displacement theory provided a good account of how forgetting might take place in Atkinson
& Shiffrin's (1968) model of short-term memory. However, it became clear that the short-
term memory store is much more complex than proposed in Atkinson and Shiffrin's model
(re: working memory).

Murdock’s (1962) serial position experiment supports the idea of forgetting due to
displacement from short term memory, although it could be due to decay. Forgetting from
short term memory can occur due to displacement or due to decay, but it is often very
difficult to tell which one it is.
 INTERFERENCE THEORY

Forgetting can be caused by "Interference". Memory can be disrupted or interfered with by

what we have previously learned or by what we will learn in the future. This idea suggests
that information in long term memory may become confused or combined with other
information during encoding thus distorting or disrupting memories.

Interference theory states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with and disrupt
one another, in other words forgetting occurs because of interference from other memories
(Baddeley, 1999). There are two ways in which interference can cause forgetting:

1. Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of
an old task that had been learnt. When what we already know interferes with what we are
currently learning – where old memories disrupt new memories. It’s when we have
preconceived notions about situations and events, and apply them to current situations and
events. An example would be growing up being taught that Pluto is a planet in our solar
system, then being told as an adult that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Having such a
strong memory would negatively impact the recall of the new information, and when asked
how many planets there are, someone who grew up thinking of Pluto as a planet might say
nine instead of eight.

2. Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learnt

task due to the learning of a new task. In other words, later learning interferes with earlier
learning - where new memories disrupt old memories. This often occurs when hearing recent
news figures, then trying to remember earlier facts and figures. An example of this would be
learning a new way to make a paper airplane, and then being unable to remember the way
you used to make them.

Proactive and retroactive Interference is thought to be more likely to occur where the
memories are similar, for example: confusing old and new telephone numbers. Chandler
(1989) stated that students who study similar subjects at the same time often experience
interference.
Previous learning can sometimes interfere with new learning (e.g. difficulties we have with
foreign currency when travelling abroad). Also new learning can sometimes cause confusion
with previous learning. (Starting French may affect our memory of previously learned
Spanish vocabulary).

In the short term memory interference can occur in the form of distractions so that we don’t
get the chance to process the information properly in the first place. (e.g. someone using a
loud drill just outside the door of the classroom.)

Key study: Postman (1960)

Aim: To investigate how retroactive interference affects learning. In other words, to

investigate whether information you have recently received interferes with the ability to recall
something you learned earlier.

Method: A lab experiment was used. Participants were split into two groups. Both groups
had to remember a list of paired words – e.g. cat - tree, jelly - moss, book - tractor. The
experimental group also had to learn another list of words where the second paired word if
different – e.g. cat – glass, jelly- time, book – revolver. The control group were not given the
second list. All participants were asked to recall the words on the first list.

Results: The recall of the control group was more accurate than that of the experimental
group.

Conclusion: This suggests that learning items in the second list interfered with participants’
ability to recall the list. This is an example of retroactive interference.

Evaluation

Although proactive and retroactive interference are reliable and robust effects, there are a
number of problems with interference theory as an explanation of forgetting.

 First, interference theory tells us little about the cognitive processes involved in
forgetting.
 Secondly, the majority of research into the role of interference in forgetting has been
carried out in a laboratory using lists of words, a situation which is likely to occur
fairly infrequently in everyday life (i.e. low ecological validity). As a result, it may
not be possible to generalize from the findings.

Baddeley (1990) states that the tasks given to subjects are too close to each other and, in real
life; these kinds of events are more spaced out. Nevertheless, recent research has attempted
to address this by investigating 'real-life' events and has provided support for interference
theory. However, there is no doubt that interference plays a role in forgetting, but how much
forgetting can be attributed to interference remains unclear (Anderson, 2000).
 LACK OF CONSOLIDATION

The previous accounts of forgetting have focused primarily on psychological evidence, but
memory also relies on biological processes. For example, we can define a memory trace as:

Some permanent alteration of the brain substrate in order to represent some aspect of a past
experience'.

When we take in new information, a certain amount of time is necessary for changes to the
nervous system to take place – the consolidation process – so that it is properly recorded.
During this period information is moved from short term memory to the more permanent long
term memory.

The brain consists of a vast number of cells called neurons, connected to each other by
synapses. Synapses enable chemicals to be passed from one neuron to another. These
chemicals, called neurotransmitters, can either inhibit or stimulate the performance of
neurons.

So if you can imagine a network of neurons all connected via synapses, there will be a pattern
of stimulation and inhibition. It has been suggested that this pattern of inhibition and
stimulation can be used as a basis for storing information. This process of modifying neurons
in order form new permanent memories is referred to as consolidation (Parkin, 1993).

There is evidence that the consolidation process is impaired if there is damage to the
hippocampus (a region of the brain). In 1953, HM had brain surgery to treat his epilepsy,
which had become extremely severe. The surgery removed parts of his brain and destroyed
the hippocampus, and although it relieved his epilepsy, it left him with a range of memory
problems. Although his STM functioned well, he was unable to process information into
LTM.

The main problem experienced by HM is his inability to remember and learn new things.
This inability to form new memories is referred to as anterograde amnesia. However, of
interest in our understanding of the duration of the process of consolidation is HM's memory
for events before his surgery. In general, his memory for events before the surgery remains
intact, but he does have some memory loss for events which occurred in the two years
leading up to surgery.

Pinel (1993) suggests that this challenges Hebb's (1949) idea that the process of consolidation
takes approximately 30 minutes. The fact that HM's memory is disrupted for the two-year
period leading up to the surgery indicates that the process of consolidation continues for a
number of years.

Finally, aging can also impair our ability to consolidate information.

Evaluation

The research into the processes involved in consolidation reminds us that memory relies on
biological processes, although the exact manner by which neurons are altered during the
formation of new memories has not yet been fully explained. However, there is no doubt that
investigating the role of neurons and neurotransmitters will provide new and important
insights into memory and forgetting.