Memory Failure

Why do we forget?

Retrieval Failure

Some memories may still be encoded, but we fail to retrieve them

Retrieval cues can sometimes help access these memories by giving us a clue

Examples: Mnemonic devicesMy Very Educated Mother Just Served Us

NachosEvery Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Retrieval Cues

Specific retrieval cues, like those in our exercise, can aid memory

General retrieval cues can help too – this is called priming and is not part of conscious thought

Research has indicated that all sorts of things can affect our recall, from our mood to our location

Research on Priming (location)

Situational priming: experiment by Godden & Baddeley (1975) had 2 groups scuba divers listen to a list of words: group 1 listened 10 feet underwater, group 2 listened on the beach.

When the divers were retested, divers recalled about 35% of words from the same context, but only about 20% if the context was switched for recall

Forgetting in other stages

Encoding failure: we cannot remember what we fail to encode Absent mindedness, not paying attention

Storage failure: memories naturally decay over time - Transience. “The forgetting curve”: initial forgetting is rapid,

but levels off with time.

Forgetting in the memory stages

Retrieval failure: cues may help information if pathway is lost or blocked New information can interfere with recall of

previously stored information; e.g., pulling up Spanish vocab while trying to learn French

Some researchers believe this is the primary cause of forgetfulness: information is not lost, it is written over or confused with other information

We forget more while awake than while asleep

Recovering Memory

Some evidence suggests that brain exercises in general may aid memory retrieval

APFCC the Tsai (2008) study referenced in the video:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0301/02.html

Other problems with memory

Suggestibility External cues distort or create memories Misinformation – we accept wrong suggestions as true

Misattribution / Source Amnesia: when we remember the fact but not where it came from E.g., telling a story as though you were there or it

happened to you When we encode memories, the source gets encoded

separately from the information and often is lost

Other problems with memory

Bias – your current beliefs shape your memories. (“I never trusted him.”)