Explanations for Forgetting
Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 2.1.10
Forgetting
We've forgotten information we've learnt when we can no longer retrieve it. Psychologists say forgetting is because of availability, accessibility and interference problems.
Short-term memory - availability problem
- Information in short-term memory can decay (fade) or be displaced (pushed out). This is because the short-term memory has limited duration and capacity.
- So forgetting information is down to lack of availability.
Long-term memory - accessibility/interference problem
- Forgetting information can be down to:
- Accessibility - information that was once stored is difficult to retrieve.
- Interference - memory is inaccessible because of old or new information blocking retrieval.
Interference
Interference happens when some information in our memory is inaccessible because of old or new information blocking retrieval.
Interference
- Sometimes information is stored in our memory, but for some reason it is inaccessible.
- This is known as interference, and there are two types: proactive interference and retroactive interference.
Proactive interference
- Have you ever got a new phone number or moved to a new address, but right after you tell people the old (and wrong) phone number or address? When the new year starts, do you find you accidentally write the previous year?
- These are examples of proactive interference: when old information hinders the recall of newly learned information.
Retroactive interference
- Retroactive interference happens when information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information.
- For example, this week you are studying about Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. Next week you study the humanistic perspective of Maslow and Rogers. You then have trouble remembering Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development because you can only remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Pros and cons
- Many laboratory experiments support the ideas of proactive and retroactive interference.
- The theory is limited because it does not explain how interference occurs (e.g. the biological or cognitive processes). It only explains why we forget memories.
Test yourself on Explanations for Forgetting
Which of these is NOT a type of problem causing us to forget information?
What is interference?
What's the term for when new information hinders the recall of older information?
What type of interference is happening when the new year starts but you keep writing the date as the year before?