Unit 2.7: Forgetting and other Memory Challenges

Encoding Failure

We cannot remember what we do not encode

Blackouts

Alcohol impairs someones memory

Storage Decay

Material encoded into long-term memory will decay if the memory is never used, recalled, or re-stored

Retrograde Amnesia

Cannot remember things prior to brain damage

Anterograde Amnesia

Cannot remember things that occur after brain damage

Proactive interference

when old information interferes with the ability to remember new information.

Retroactive Interference

when new information interferes with the ability to remember old information

Retrieval Failure

Information is retained but cannot be accessed, tip-of-tongue phenomenon

Repression

Unconscious mechanism by which the mind presents certain thoughts, memories, or feelings from entering conscious awareness

Source Amnesia

Attributing an event to the wrong source we have experienced, heard, read, or imagined

Misinformation Effect

The tendency of misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself