Forgetting: Difference between revisions

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==History==

One of the first to study the mechanisms of forgetting was the German psychologist [[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (1885). Using himself as the sole subject in his experiment, he memorized lists of three letter nonsense syllable words—two consonants and one vowel in the middle. He then measured his own capacity to relearn a given list of words after a variety of given time period. He found that forgetting occurs in a systematic manner, beginning rapidly and then leveling off.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Kohn |first1=Art |title=Use It or Lose It |url=https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/use-it-or-lose-it |work=TD |date=9 February 2015 }}</ref> Although his methods were primitive, his basic premises have held true today and have been reaffirmed by more methodologically sound methods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murre |first1=Jaap M. J. |last2=Dros |first2=Joeri |title=Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve |journal=PLOS ONE |date=6 July 2015 |volume=10 |issue=7 |~~pages~~=e0120644 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0120644 |pmid=26148023 |pmc=4492928 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1020644M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Ebbinghaus ''forgetting curve'' is the name of his results which he plotted out and made 2 conclusions. The first being that much of what we forget is lost soon after it is originally learned. The second being that the amount of forgetting eventually levels off.<ref>Hockenbury, Sandra. (2010)</ref>

One of the first to study the mechanisms of forgetting was the German psychologist [[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (1885). Using himself as the sole subject in his experiment, he memorized lists of three letter nonsense syllable words—two consonants and one vowel in the middle. He then measured his own capacity to relearn a given list of words after a variety of given time period. He found that forgetting occurs in a systematic manner, beginning rapidly and then leveling off.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Kohn |first1=Art |title=Use It or Lose It |url=https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/use-it-or-lose-it |work=TD |date=9 February 2015 }}</ref> Although his methods were primitive, his basic premises have held true today and have been reaffirmed by more methodologically sound methods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murre |first1=Jaap M. J. |last2=Dros |first2=Joeri |title=Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve |journal=PLOS ONE |date=6 July 2015 |volume=10 |issue=7 |article-number=e0120644 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0120644 |pmid=26148023 |pmc=4492928 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1020644M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Ebbinghaus ''forgetting curve'' is the name of his results which he plotted out and made 2 conclusions. The first being that much of what we forget is lost soon after it is originally learned. The second being that the amount of forgetting eventually levels off.<ref>Hockenbury, Sandra. (2010)</ref>

Around the same time Ebbinghaus developed the forgetting curve, psychologist Sigmund Freud theorized that people intentionally forgot things in order to push bad thoughts and feelings deep into their unconscious, a process he called "[[Psychological repression|repression]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Memory: Forgetting|url=http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/memory/section3.rhtml|publisher=Spark Notes|access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>

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</ref>

One process model for memory was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in the 1960s as a way to explain the operation of memory. This [[Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model|modal model of memory]], also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, suggests there are three types of memory: [[sensory memory]], [[short-term memory]], and [[long-term memory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malmberg |first1=Kenneth J. |last2=Raaijmakers |first2=Jeroen G. W. |last3=Shiffrin |first3=Richard M. |title=50 years of research sparked by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) |journal=Memory & Cognition |date=28 January 2019 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=561–574 |doi=10.3758/s13421-019-00896-7|pmid=30689198 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Each type of memory is separate in its capacity and duration. In the modal model, how quickly information is forgotten is related to the type of memory where that information is stored. Information in the first stage, sensory memory, is forgotten after only a few seconds. In the second stage, short-term memory, information is forgotten after about 20 years. While information in long-term memory can be remembered for minutes or even decades, it may be forgotten when the retrieval processes for that information fail.<ref name=":0" />

One process model for memory was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in the 1960s as a way to explain the operation of memory. This [[Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model|modal model of memory]], also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, suggests there are three types of memory: [[sensory memory]], [[short-term memory]], and [[long-term memory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malmberg |first1=Kenneth J. |last2=Raaijmakers |first2=Jeroen G. W. |last3=Shiffrin |first3=Richard M. |title=50 years of research sparked by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) |journal=Memory & Cognition |date=28 January 2019 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=561–574 |doi=10.3758/s13421-019-00896-7|pmid=30689198 |doi-access=free |hdl=11245.1/88cf32af-8acb-42bf-b1b4-c8f090a1a336 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Each type of memory is separate in its capacity and duration. In the modal model, how quickly information is forgotten is related to the type of memory where that information is stored. Information in the first stage, sensory memory, is forgotten after only a few seconds. In the second stage, short-term memory, information is forgotten after about 20 years. While information in long-term memory can be remembered for minutes or even decades, it may be forgotten when the retrieval processes for that information fail.<ref name=":0" />

Concerning unwanted memories, modern terminology divides [[motivated forgetting]] into unconscious repression (which is disputed) and conscious [[thought suppression]].

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====Recognition====

Participants are given a list of words and that they have to remember. Then they are shown the same list of material with additional information and they are asked to identify the material that was on the original list. The more they recognize, the less information is forgotten.<ref>http://www.chegg.com. (n.d.). Learn About Measures Of Forgetting | Chegg.com. [online] Available at: https://www.chegg.com/learn/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/measures-of-forgetting.</ref>

Participants are given a list of words and that they have to remember. Then they are shown the same list of material with additional information and they are asked to identify the material that was on the original list. The more they recognize, the less information is forgotten.<ref>http://www.chegg.com. (n.d.). Learn About Measures Of Forgetting | Chegg.com. [online] Available at: https://www.chegg.com/learn/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/measures-of-forgetting{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}.</ref>

==Theories==

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=== Trace decay theory ===

[[Decay theory]] states that when something new is learned, a neurochemical, physical "memory trace" is formed in the brain and over time this trace tends to disintegrate, unless it is occasionally used. Decay theory states the reason we eventually forget something or an event is because the memory of it fades with time. If we do not attempt to look back at an event, the greater the interval time between the time when the event from happening and the time when we try to remember, the memory will start to fade. Time is the greatest impact in remembering an event.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Decay Theory of Forgetting|url=http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html}}</ref>

[[Decay theory]] states that when something new is learned, a neurochemical, physical "memory trace" is formed in the brain and over time this trace tends to disintegrate, unless it is occasionally used. Decay theory states the reason we eventually forget something or an event is because the memory of it fades with time. If we do not attempt to look back at an event, the greater the interval time between the time when the event from happening and the time when we try to remember, the memory will start to fade. Time is the greatest impact in remembering an event.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Decay Theory of Forgetting|url=http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html|access-date=2011-12-01|archive-date=2011-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211175852/http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Trace decay theory explains memories that are stored in both short-term and long-term memory system, and assumes that the memories leave a trace in the brain.<ref name=simply>{{cite web|last=McLeod|first=Saul|title=Forgetting|url=http://www.simplypsychology.org/forgetting.html|publisher=Simply Psychology|access-date=1 May 2014}}</ref> According to this theory, short-term memory (STM) can only retain information for a limited amount of time, around 15 to 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. If it is not rehearsed, the information will start to gradually fade away and decay. Donald Hebb proposed that incoming information causes a series of neurons to create a neurological memory trace in the brain which would result in change in the morphological and/or chemical changes in the brain and would fade with time. Repeated firing causes a structural change in the synapses. Rehearsal of repeated firing maintains the memory in STM until a structural change is made. Therefore, forgetting happens as a result of automatic decay of the memory trace in brain. This theory states that the events between learning and recall have no effects on recall; the important factor that affects is the duration that the information has been retained. Hence, as longer time passes more of traces are subject to decay and as a result the information is forgotten.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 ==History==
-One of the first to study the mechanisms of forgetting was the German psychologist [[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (1885). Using himself as the sole subject in his experiment, he memorized lists of three letter nonsense syllable words&mdash;two consonants and one vowel in the middle. He then measured his own capacity to relearn a given list of words after a variety of given time period. He found that forgetting occurs in a systematic manner, beginning rapidly and then leveling off.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Kohn |first1=Art |title=Use It or Lose It |url=https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/use-it-or-lose-it |work=TD |date=9 February 2015 }}</ref> Although his methods were primitive, his basic premises have held true today and have been reaffirmed by more methodologically sound methods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murre |first1=Jaap M. J. |last2=Dros |first2=Joeri |title=Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve |journal=PLOS ONE |date=6 July 2015 |volume=10 |issue=7 |pages=e0120644 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0120644 |pmid=26148023 |pmc=4492928 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1020644M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Ebbinghaus ''forgetting curve'' is the name of his results which he plotted out and made 2 conclusions. The first being that much of what we forget is lost soon after it is originally learned. The second being that the amount of forgetting eventually levels off.<ref>Hockenbury, Sandra. (2010)</ref>
+One of the first to study the mechanisms of forgetting was the German psychologist [[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (1885). Using himself as the sole subject in his experiment, he memorized lists of three letter nonsense syllable words&mdash;two consonants and one vowel in the middle. He then measured his own capacity to relearn a given list of words after a variety of given time period. He found that forgetting occurs in a systematic manner, beginning rapidly and then leveling off.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Kohn |first1=Art |title=Use It or Lose It |url=https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/use-it-or-lose-it |work=TD |date=9 February 2015 }}</ref> Although his methods were primitive, his basic premises have held true today and have been reaffirmed by more methodologically sound methods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murre |first1=Jaap M. J. |last2=Dros |first2=Joeri |title=Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve |journal=PLOS ONE |date=6 July 2015 |volume=10 |issue=7 |article-number=e0120644 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0120644 |pmid=26148023 |pmc=4492928 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1020644M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Ebbinghaus ''forgetting curve'' is the name of his results which he plotted out and made 2 conclusions. The first being that much of what we forget is lost soon after it is originally learned. The second being that the amount of forgetting eventually levels off.<ref>Hockenbury, Sandra. (2010)</ref>
 Around the same time Ebbinghaus developed the forgetting curve, psychologist Sigmund Freud theorized that people intentionally forgot things in order to push bad thoughts and feelings deep into their unconscious, a process he called "[[Psychological repression|repression]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Memory: Forgetting|url=http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/memory/section3.rhtml|publisher=Spark Notes|access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>
@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 </ref>
-One process model for memory was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in the 1960s as a way to explain the operation of memory. This [[Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model|modal model of memory]], also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, suggests there are three types of memory: [[sensory memory]], [[short-term memory]], and [[long-term memory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malmberg |first1=Kenneth J. |last2=Raaijmakers |first2=Jeroen G. W. |last3=Shiffrin |first3=Richard M. |title=50 years of research sparked by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) |journal=Memory & Cognition |date=28 January 2019 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=561–574 |doi=10.3758/s13421-019-00896-7|pmid=30689198 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Each type of memory is separate in its capacity and duration. In the modal model, how quickly information is forgotten is related to the type of memory where that information is stored. Information in the first stage, sensory memory, is forgotten after only a few seconds. In the second stage, short-term memory, information is forgotten after about 20 years. While information in long-term memory can be remembered for minutes or even decades, it may be forgotten when the retrieval processes for that information fail.<ref name=":0" />
+One process model for memory was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in the 1960s as a way to explain the operation of memory. This [[Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model|modal model of memory]], also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, suggests there are three types of memory: [[sensory memory]], [[short-term memory]], and [[long-term memory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malmberg |first1=Kenneth J. |last2=Raaijmakers |first2=Jeroen G. W. |last3=Shiffrin |first3=Richard M. |title=50 years of research sparked by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) |journal=Memory & Cognition |date=28 January 2019 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=561–574 |doi=10.3758/s13421-019-00896-7|pmid=30689198 |doi-access=free |hdl=11245.1/88cf32af-8acb-42bf-b1b4-c8f090a1a336 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Each type of memory is separate in its capacity and duration. In the modal model, how quickly information is forgotten is related to the type of memory where that information is stored. Information in the first stage, sensory memory, is forgotten after only a few seconds. In the second stage, short-term memory, information is forgotten after about 20 years. While information in long-term memory can be remembered for minutes or even decades, it may be forgotten when the retrieval processes for that information fail.<ref name=":0" />
 Concerning unwanted memories, modern terminology divides [[motivated forgetting]] into unconscious repression (which is disputed) and conscious [[thought suppression]].
@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 ====Recognition====
-Participants are given a list of words and that they have to remember. Then they are shown the same list of material with additional information and they are asked to identify the material that was on the original list. The more they recognize, the less information is forgotten.<ref>http://www.chegg.com. (n.d.). Learn About Measures Of Forgetting | Chegg.com. [online] Available at: https://www.chegg.com/learn/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/measures-of-forgetting.</ref>
+Participants are given a list of words and that they have to remember. Then they are shown the same list of material with additional information and they are asked to identify the material that was on the original list. The more they recognize, the less information is forgotten.<ref>http://www.chegg.com. (n.d.). Learn About Measures Of Forgetting | Chegg.com. [online] Available at: https://www.chegg.com/learn/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/measures-of-forgetting{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}.</ref>
 ==Theories==
@@ Line 85: / Line 85: @@
 === Trace decay theory ===
-[[Decay theory]] states that when something new is learned, a neurochemical, physical "memory trace" is formed in the brain and over time this trace tends to disintegrate, unless it is occasionally used. Decay theory states the reason we eventually forget something or an event is because the memory of it fades with time. If we do not attempt to look back at an event, the greater the interval time between the time when the event from happening and the time when we try to remember, the memory will start to fade. Time is the greatest impact in remembering an event.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Decay Theory of Forgetting|url=http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html}}</ref>
+[[Decay theory]] states that when something new is learned, a neurochemical, physical "memory trace" is formed in the brain and over time this trace tends to disintegrate, unless it is occasionally used. Decay theory states the reason we eventually forget something or an event is because the memory of it fades with time. If we do not attempt to look back at an event, the greater the interval time between the time when the event from happening and the time when we try to remember, the memory will start to fade. Time is the greatest impact in remembering an event.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Decay Theory of Forgetting|url=http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html|access-date=2011-12-01|archive-date=2011-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211175852/http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/Decaytheory.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 Trace decay theory explains memories that are stored in both short-term and long-term memory system, and assumes that the memories leave a trace in the brain.<ref name=simply>{{cite web|last=McLeod|first=Saul|title=Forgetting|url=http://www.simplypsychology.org/forgetting.html|publisher=Simply Psychology|access-date=1 May 2014}}</ref> According to this theory, short-term memory (STM) can only retain information for a limited amount of time, around 15 to 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. If it is not rehearsed, the information will start to gradually fade away and decay. Donald Hebb proposed that incoming information causes a series of neurons to create a neurological memory trace in the brain which would result in change in the morphological and/or chemical changes in the brain and would fade with time. Repeated firing causes a structural change in the synapses. Rehearsal of repeated firing maintains the memory in STM until a structural change is made. Therefore, forgetting happens as a result of automatic decay of the memory trace in brain. This theory states that the events between learning and recall have no effects on recall; the important factor that affects is the duration that the information has been retained. Hence, as longer time passes more of traces are subject to decay and as a result the information is forgotten.

Forgetting: Difference between revisions

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