Forgetting

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering incidental forgetting, consolidation processes, interference mechanisms, and experimental paradigms.

Incidental Forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when a person would like to remember the information.

Motivated Forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when a person has a reason not to remember, such as when information is no longer useful or is unpleasant.

Storage Problem

A theoretical cause of forgetting where the physical memory trace has deteriorated or degraded in memory storage over time.

Retrieval Problem

A theoretical cause of forgetting where a memory trace exists in storage but is difficult to access due to a lack of appropriate retrieval cues or context.

Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve

A classic curve showing that the rate of forgetting is non-linear; memory loss occurs rapidly shortly after learning and then levels off over time.

Consolidation

A continuous process after initial learning that stabilizes memories and makes them increasingly resistant to forgetting.

Contextual Drift Hypothesis

The hypothesis proposing that memory performance declines over time because an individual's internal mental state gradually drifts away from their mental state at encoding.

Synaptic Consolidation

Biological memory stabilization involving structural modifications at neural synapses, taking hours to days, and occurring across virtually all regions of the brain.

System Consolidation

A systemic memory reorganization process taking up to years in humans, driven by memory retrieval and replay, requiring the medial temporal lobe (including the hippocampus).

Linton's Diary Study

A $6\text{-year}$ autobiographical study showing that repeated testing and retrieval of recorded personal events protects memories from standard rates of decay, making them highly resistant to forgetting.

Decay Theory

The theory asserting that memory traces spontaneously fade and weaken over time strictly as a function of time elapsed.

Interference Theory

The theory that forgetting occurs when old and new memories overlap and compete with one another during retrieval.

Baddeley & Hitch (1977) Rugby Study

An investigation showing that rugby players' forgetting of opposing team names was predicted by the number of intervening games played (interference) rather than elapsed time (decay).

Proactive Interference (PI)

An interference effect where previously learned older information impairs the encoding, storage, or recall of newly learned information.

Retroactive Interference (RI)

An interference effect where newly learned information impairs the retention and recall of previously learned older information.

Serial Position Curve

A U-shaped curve depicting recall accuracy based on item list position, shaped by proactive interference, retroactive interference, and short-term memory (STM) advantages.

Cue Overload

The principle stating that as the number of memory target associations linked to a single retrieval cue increases, retrieval success for any specific target decreases.

Part-Set Cueing Effect

The phenomenon where providing a subset of studied items as cues or hints before testing impairs the recall of the remaining unprompted items.

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF)

The phenomenon where practicing retrieval for a subset of items in a category causes unpracticed items from that same practiced category to be recalled worse than items from unpracticed categories.