Reasons Why We Forget

Some of you may know I have my degree in Psychology, I love doing research
and often, I am very analitical. I also am very interested in the brain and
so when I came across this article I thought I would share it with all of
you.

Explanations for Forgetting
From
Kendra Van Wagner,

Your Guide to
Psychology.
What are some of the major reasons why we forget information? One of today's
best known memory researchers, Susan Loftus, has identified four major
reasons
why people forget: retrieval failure, interference, failure to store and
motivated forgetting.

1. Retrieval Failure
Have you ever felt like a piece of information has just vanished from
memory? Or maybe you know that it's there, you just can't seem to find it.
One common
cause of forgetting is simply an inability to retrieve a memory. One
explanation for why retrieval fails is known as decay theory. According to
this theory,
a memory trace is created every time a new theory is formed. Decay theory
suggests that over time, these memory traces begin to fade and disappear. If
information is not retrieved and rehearsed, it will eventually be lost. One
problem with this theory, however, is that research has demonstrated that
even
memories which have not been rehearsed or remembered are remarkably stable
in long-term memory.
2. Interferance
Another theory known as interference theory suggests that some memories
compete and interfere with other memories. When information is very similar
to other
information that was previously stored in memory, interference is more
likely to occur. There are two basic types of interference:

. Proactive interference is when an old memory makes it more difficult or
impossible to remember a new memory.
. Retroactive interference occurs when new information interferes with your
ability to remember previously learned information.
3. Failure to Store
We also forget information because it never actually made it into long-term
memory. Encoding failures sometimes prevent information from entering
long-term
memory. In one well-known experiment, researchers asked participants to
identify the correct U.S. penny out of a group of incorrect pennies
(Nickerson
& Adams). Try doing this experiment yourself by attempting to draw a penny
from memory, and then compare your results to an actual penny.

How well did you do? Chances are that you were able to remember the shape
and color , but you probably forgot other minor details. The reason for this
is
that only details necessary for distinguishing pennies from other coins were
encoded into your long-term memory.

4. Motivated ForgettingSometimes, we may actively work to forget memories,
especially those of traumatic or disturbing events or experiences. The two
basic forms of motivated
forgetting are: suppression, a conscious form of forgetting, and repression,
an unconscious form of forgetting.

However, the concept of repressed memories is not universally accepted by
all psychologists. One of the problems with repressed memories is that it is
difficult,
if not impossible, to scientifically study whether or not a memory has been
repressed. Also note that mental activities such as rehearsal and
remembering
are important ways of strengthening a memory, and memories of painful or
traumatic life events are far less likely to be remembered, discussed or
rehearsed.

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/tp/explanations-for-forgetting.htm