Theories of memory: Explaining why we forget

There are many reasons as to why one forgets things. This could be due to the fact one does not want to pay attention. One does not encode the information into ones short term memory and rehearse it long enough to stay in the long term or it could be that one does not wish want to remember it. Forgetting information happens usually in the first few years after it is learned and the rate that one forgets decreases slowly after.

Daniel Schucter 1999 found seven ways our memories fail us. When one fail to pay attention this can leads to encoding failure. Transference can have any effect as one tend to forget about things that aren’t needed anymore they fade away, or one can block information and can’t get that information back. i.e. trying to remember an actor in an old movie. One can also get confused about the source of information i.e. thinking ones dream actually happened in real life. Misinformation i.e leading questions can make one believe something has happened that has never happened. This is a false memory. There are many more Schacter found. If one does not encode what one learns one will never remember it. The younger one is are the better and quicker one is are at encoding new information. The brain is less responsive in older adults. This explains age related memory decline (Grady et al 1995).

There are three explanations for understanding memory and how it works. Atkinson and Shiffrin developed a model of memory called the multi-store model. The proposed that one can understand the mental process of memory by comparing it to process of a computer. They proposed that there is three different stores of memory. Sensory memory this can store large amount of information but can be lost within a few seconds if attention is not given. Sperling 1960 did an investigation on the capacity of sensory memory. He later concluded that can hold information between 250 -500 milliseconds before it decays. If attention is then given the information will then be passed on to the second store which is short term memory. Only a selection of words make it into short- term memory, due to fact that it only has limited capacity and if one gets distracted it causes one to forget (Eysenck & Keane 2000). If one rehearses the information that is in the short term memory it will then be transferred into the third store: long term memory. This has a large capacity unlike short term memory and can keep information for many years. Some have argued that once information has been stored in long term memory it will be permanent. The second explanation for memory is levels of processing discovered by Craik and Lockhart 1972. This is believed to be the alternative to motel store model. They believed that the way information is processed is determined on whether or not it is been remembered. The deeper the level of processing the more likely one is are to remember it. Experiment was conducted by Craik and Tulving. Their aim was to investigate the different types of processing. From there results they were able to support their view that recall depends on the type of processing that took place when encoding the information. The third is Working memory this was developled from Attkinson and Shiffrins model short term memory. This was researched by Baddeley and Hitch 1974. The working memory focuses on the conscious and active processing of information i.e.Their model consists of the Central executive this controls the phonological loop which is responsible for manipulating speech based information and the visuo-spatial sketchpad responsible for manipulating visual memory. It also focuses on information retrieved from long term memory.

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Eddinghaus 1885 argues that forgetting could be due to decay over time. Our memory gradually fades away over time. Eddinghaus used himself as a participant in his study. The experiment was for him to learn list of nonsense syllables and measure how much he retained when he learned each list, 20minutes-30days later. He found forgetting followed a pattern which was known as ‘forgetting curve’. There are many disagreements regarding explanation of why memory gets worse the longer the delay between learning and recall. It was later found that what was important was time the information has to be retained. So the longer the time, the more then memory trace decays. Due to this more information is forgotten. Brown 1958, Peterson and Peterson 1959 supported the idea that forgetting for short term memory may be the result of decay over time. They developed a technique called Brown-peterson task. Their techniques support views that information is lost from short-term memory through process of decay, that if one is prevented from rehearsing ifnormatio is then lost and performances level drops to 50%in less than 6 seconds.

Waugh and Noeman 1965 aimed to investigate the process of forgetting from short term memory. From the results they found the absence of any significant difference between the two conditions suggest delays alone cannot account for forgetting from short term memory. Some psychologist came up with the idea that interference is a reason for forgetting. When our memory traces are disrupted or obscured by other information i.e. interference from other memory (Baddeley 1999). Interferences can happen in two ways. Proactive interference occurs when what one already know interfers with what one is are presently learning. The other is retroactive interference (backwards), when what one is are learning interfered with earlier learning. An experiment was carried out by Jenkins and Dallenbach 1924 in order to attempt to compare decay theory and interference theory as explanation for forgetting from long term memory. They concluded that decay theory would predict the time elapsed between learning and recall should be the only factor that influenced forgetting and should make no difference whether participants are awake or asleep during retention interval. They found there is more interference with memory when people are awake than when they sleep. The study came across some problems as they did not control the time which learning took place. From the study it is impossible to tell whether forgetting depends on time of learning or what happens during learning and recall. Baddeley and hitch 1977 compared theory of interference with decay theory. Their findings supported the idea that forgetting was due to interference not decay.

One of the explanations for forgetting could be due to retrieval failure. This is when information is stored in ones memory but cannot be retrieved because the cues given are not good enough therefore cannot be retrieved. Study was conducted by Tulving and pearlstone 1966 investigating retrieval failure in memory. From the study one can conclude that even though both groups had same conditions whilst learning the cued, recall group were able to recall more meaning if the other group were given cues as well, they would have done as well. This means poor performance is due to retrieval failure not having cues. Tulving and Thompson 1973 believed that retrieval of information depends on availability of retrieval cues that match with aspects of stored memory trace. I.e. if the list of words that one had to learn were: apple, orange, pear, grape. Ones cue could or will be fruits in order to remember it, as this is what all the words in the list have in common.

One can conclude from this that ones memory works in different ways and different reasons can contribute to why one forgets. One can conclude that more than one factor can affect forgetting. All the different reasons mentioned above all play a part in forgetting. i.e. not encoding of information and retrieval cues. If one does not encode the information leant well or in the right way one will find it difficult to recall words. i.e. will not be able to assemble the cues to the right words. Inference and decay is another. If information is not rehearsed and a distracter task is introduced this can cause inference to occur. Jenkins and Dallenbach compare theses two theories. In order to prevent some of these from occurring one must: rehearse, make words meaningful, have cues try to reduce level of interference proactive and retroactive, have enough sleep and one must try not to think about other things that have no meaning to what one is studying.