Forgetting

Definition (#f7aeae)

Important (#edcae9)

Extra (#fffe9d)

Learning objectives:

  1. Define forgetting.

  2. How can fading be measured.

  3. What causes fading.

  4. How can understanding of it can be put to practical uses?

Memory Metaphors:

Knowledge Taxonomy:

Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Theory of Memory:

Forgetting:

  • Encoding Failure:

    • Never encoded.

    • Information never entered into long term memory.

  • Retrieval Failure:

    • Forgotten information.

  • Forgetting: Deterioration in performance of learned behavior following a retention interval.

  • Retention Interval: Period during which learning does not occur.

Measuring Forgetting:

  • Free recall: How much can be remembered.

  • Prompted or cue recall

  • Relearning/Saving method: The more retained, the lesser the relearning time.

  • Recognition: MCQ.

  • Delayed matching to sample: Checking again after a while.

  • Extinction method: Quicker extinction refers to forgetting.

  • Gradient degradation

Sources of Forgetting:

  1. Ebbinghaus (1885):

    • Strong relationship between length of retention interval and forgetting.

    • Forgetting increases with the passage of time.

  2. John McGeoch (1932):

    • Learning occurs with time, but it’s certain behavior, experience not time that change behavior.

    • Forgetting occurs in time, but time is not the cause.

  3. Factors:

    • Degree of learning.

    • Prior learning.

    • Subsequent learning.

    • Change in context.

Degree of Learning:

  • The better something is learnt, the slowly it’s forgotten.

  • Ebbinghaus (1885) – retention is better with rehearsing 64 times instead of 8 time.

  • William Krueger (1929) – performed how powerful overlearning can be.

Transferring information from STM to LTM:

Encoding: Acquiring information and transforming it into memory.

Control Process: Strategy that determines how information is processed.

  1. Rehearsal: Repeating verbal information to keep it active in STM or transfer it to LTM.

  2. Coding: Semantic elaboration of information to make it easier to remember.

  3. Imaging: Creating visual images to make materials easier to learn.

Process:

  1. Verbal Rehearsal & Learning:

    • Engages in rote learning, learning by repetition.

    • Useful for abstract materials.

  2. Elaborative Rehearsal:

    • Thinking about the meaning, transfers into LTM.

    • Levels of processing:

      1. Shallow Processing: Little attention to meaning.

      2. Deep Processing: Close attention to meaning.

Factors Aiding Encoding:

  1. Imagery:

    • For imagery based mnemonics to work, the images created need to be integrated.

  2. Generation Effect:

    • The robust finding that information will be better remembered if it is generated rather than simply read.

    • Memory is better for self-generating content using free recall.

  3. Organizing to be Remembered Information:

    • Having a mental framework of a comprehension aided memory encoding and retrieval.

  4. Testing:

    • Which results in stronger memory?

      • Re-reading the material

      • Being tested on the material

    • The testing group performed better.

  5. Creating Connections/Remembering Cues:

    • Engaging in conscious memory strategies.

      • Mnemonics

      • Mood congruent effect

      • Mood dependent memory

  6. Self Reference Effect:

    • Tendency for people to encode information differently depending on the level on which the self is implicated in the information.

Prior Learning:

  • Forgetting occurs rapidly when learning unrelated words or terms.

  • More meaningful material is easier to remember.

  • Prior learning can interfere with recall.

  • Proactive Interference: Material learned earlier disrupts retrieval of materials learned later.

Subsequent Learning:

  • We forget because we keep learning.

  • Retroactive learning: Material learned later disrupts.

Difference between proactive and retroactive learning:

Changes in Context:

  • Context: Stimuli present during learning that’s not directly relevant to what’s learnt.

  • Cue dependent forgetting: When a stimuli that’s present during learning is absent, performance can suffer.

Application:

  • Overlearn

  • Practice with feedback

  • Test yourself

  • Use mnemonics

  • Use context cues

  • Take a problem solving approach