Module 5

Memory and Forgetting

5.1 Kinds of remembering

5.2 Retrieval processes
5.3 The nature of forgetting

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• We work hard to encode (via effortful processing) and store some important information for
upcoming final exam. How do you get that information back out of storage when you need it?
• The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness is
known as retrieval.
• This would be similar to finding and opening a paper you had previously saved on your
computer’s hard drive. Now it’s back on your desktop, and you can work with it again.
• Our ability to retrieve information from long-term memory is vital to our everyday functioning.
You must be able to retrieve information from memory in order to do everything from knowing
how to brush your hair and teeth, to driving to work, to knowing how to perform your job once
you get there.
• Psychologists distinguish information that is available in memory from that which is accessible
• Available information is the information that is stored in memory—but precisely how much and
what types are stored cannot be known. That is, all we can know is what information we can
retrieve—accessible information.
• The assumption is that accessible information represents only a tiny slice of the information
available in our brains.
• Most of us have had the experience of trying to remember some fact or event, giving up, and
then—all of a sudden!—it comes to us at a later time, even after we’ve stopped trying to
remember it. Similarly, we all know the experience of failing to recall a fact, but then, if we are
given several choices (as in a multiple-choice test), we are easily able to recognize it.
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Types of Retrieval
• There are three types retrieval:
• recall,
• recognition and
• relearning speed
• It is easier for us to recognize the information than to recall. Our recognition
memory is impressively quick and vast.
• Our speed of relearning also indicates how much we have learned.
• Herman Ebbinghaus showed this in his learning experiments, using a nonsense
syllables.
• He found that the more times he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on day 1,
the fewer repetitions he required to retain it on day 2.
• Additional rehearsal (overlearning) of verbal information increases retention,
especially when practice is distributed over days.
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 Retrieval cues
• Priming
• Context dependant memory
• State dependant memory
• Serial position effect

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 Priming
• Priming influences the response to another stimulus.
• Best retrieval cues come from associations we form at
the time we encode a memory – smells, tastes etc
• People are faster in deciding that a string of letters is
a word when the word followed an associatively
related word.
• Being primed with the stereotype of professors
increases knowledge confidence compared to being
primed with a less educated profession, and these
higher self-efficacy beliefs result in higher
performance at a general knowledge test.
• Participants primed with the stereotype of athletes
show higher persistence in a physical exercise than
participants primed with a stereotype less associated
with persistence.
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Context dependent memory &
State dependent memory

• Context dependent memory:

Encoding specificity can be defined
as the tendency for memory of
information to be improved if the
related information (such as
surroundings or physiological state)
available when the memory is first
formed is also available when the
memory is being retrieved.

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• When people encode information,
they do so in specific ways.
• For example, take the song on the
radio: perhaps you heard it while
you were at a terrific party, having a
great, philosophical conversation
with a friend. Thus, the song
became part of that whole complex
experience. Years later, even
though you haven’t thought about
that party in ages, when you hear
the song on the radio, the whole
experience rushes back to you.
• In general, the encoding specificity
principle states that, to the extent a
retrieval cue (the song) matches or
overlaps the memory trace of an
experience (the party, the
conversation), it will be effective in
evoking the memory
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Caution with context-dependent principle
• One caution with context-dependent principle is that, for the cue to work, it can’t match
too many other experiences (Nairne, 2002; Watkins, 1975).
• Consider a lab experiment. Suppose you study 100 items; 99 are words, and one is a
picture—of a penguin, item 50 in the list. Afterwards, the cue “recall the picture” would
evoke “penguin” perfectly.
• No one would miss it. However, if the word “penguin” were placed in the same spot
among the other 99 words, its memorability would be exceptionally worse. This outcome
shows the power of distinctiveness: one picture is perfectly recalled from among 99
words because it stands out. Now consider what would happen if the experiment were
repeated, but there were 25 pictures distributed within the 100-item list.
• Although the picture of the penguin would still be there, the probability that the cue
“recall the picture” (at item 50) would be useful for the penguin would drop
correspondingly. Watkins (1975) referred to this outcome as demonstrating the cue
overload principle.
• That is, to be effective, a retrieval cue cannot be overloaded with too many memories.
For the cue “recall the picture” to be effective, it should only match one item in the
target set (as in the one-picture, 99-word case).
• To sum up how memory cues function: for a retrieval cue to be effective, a match must
exist between the cue and the desired target memory; furthermore, to produce the best
retrieval, the cue-target relationship should
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 State-dependent memory
• State-dependent memory or state-dependent learning is the phenomenon where
people remember more information if their physical or mental state is the same
at time of encoding and time of recall
• State-dependent memory is a phenomenon where people are more likely to
retrieve memories that were created in similar states of consciousness.
• For example, if you learned something while drunk, you will have a higher chance
of remembering it if you are also drunk.
• State retrieval clues may be based on state-the physical or psychological state of
the person when information is encoded and retrieved.
• For example, a person may be alert, tired, happy, sad, drunk, or sober when the
information was encoded. They will be more likely to retrieve the information in
a similar state.

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• If cells have been “trained” to communicate
while brain was in a specific state, they are
also more likely to communicate when we
are back in that state. The cells recognize
that the chemical conditions are the same
now that we are drunk, using medication,
etc., and will send out the communication
necessary to recall memories.
• Nobody really knows how memory works.
However, we can describe it using models
and theories. When it comes to State-
Dependent memory, there is no model or
theory other than the fact that it works and
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can be replicated.
• Other studies involving caffeine and Ritalin (drug that helps to increase attention;
it is a stimulant)have also supported the idea of state-dependent memory.
Nicotine also has some research that it provides a powerful state-dependent
effect.
• However, people do not have to have controlled substances in their bodies to
encode state-dependent memory. Researchers are continuing to look at how
mood and internal pain may play a part in state-dependent memory
• These theories are controversial
• Another facet of state-dependent memory is mood dependent memory. In the
same fashion, you are much more likely to remember a piece of information if
you are in the same mood that you learned it. Much more powerful is mood-
congruent memory.

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 Serial position effect

• Serial-position effect is the tendency of a

person to recall the first and last items in a
series best, and the middle items worst
• Recency effect : When asked to recall a list of
items in any order (free recall), people tend to
begin recall with the end of the list, recalling
those items best
• Primacy effect: Next, people recall the first
few items better as compared to the middle
items

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 Forgetting

• Forgetting refers to the negative aspect of memory. It refers to the loss of

retention or difficulties in retrieval. The term forgetting is used to refer to two
things:
• (i) Actual loss of information from the memory store. (Generally short term
memory store)
• (ii) Inability to recall or retrieve the stored information when required. (long
term memory).

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 Retrograde Amnesia
• In retrograde amnesia old long-term memories are disturbed. It is a disorder of a
memory characterized by an inability to retrieve old long-term memories generally
for a specific period of time extending back from the beginning of the disorder.
Episodic and declarative memory are mostly affected
• Retrograde amnesia occurs due to the following causes:
• Seizures,
• Brain damage of various types,
• Blows to the head,
• Highly stressful events

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 Anterograde Amnesia
• Anterograde amnesia: It is a disorder of
memory in which there is an inability to
store/create or retrieve new information in
LTM.
• In this disorder only the ability to store and
process new information in LTM is disturbed.
• Already stored information in the LTM is not
affected
• It affects LTM but not working memory.
• According to Cohen anterograde amnesia
does not affect memory for general
knowledge but recall for new facts and events
is grossly impaired.
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 Causes
• Drugs
• Traumatic brain injury in which damage is usually done to the hippocampus
• Shock or an emotional disorder illness
• Encephalitis( ( inflammation of brain tissue)
• Patients suffering from anterograde amnesia may have either episodic, semantic,
or both types of declarative memory impaired

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 Reasons for Forgetting

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• Encoding Failure
• Storage decay
• Retrieval Failure Theory
• Interference Theory
• Motivated forgetting
• Memory construction errors

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 Encoding Failure

• It means the failure to

process information in to the
memory. According to
Elizabeth Loftus, failure to
encode is the primary cause
of forgetting
• Encoding failure can occur in
any of the memory system.
• Encoding failure may
contribute to information
never being encoded from
STM to LTM and thus
forgotten.

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 Storage decay
• Even after encoding something well, we sometimes later
forget it.
• Ebbinghaus(1885)
• The course of forgetting is initially rapid then levels off with
time

Hermann Ebbinghaus

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 Continued……
• According to Ebbinghaus the course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off
with time.
• Harry Bahrick(1984) found a similar forgetting curve for Spanish vocabulary learned
in school.
• One explanation of these forgetting curves is a gradual fading of the physical
memory trace.
• Like books in the library, memories may be inaccessible for many reasons.
• Some were never acquired( not encoded). Others were discarded( stored memories
decay). And others are out of reach because we can’t retrieve them.

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 Retrieval Failure Theory
• A retrieval cue is any stimulus
that assists the process of
locating and recovering
information stored in memory.
• Retrieval failure is sometimes
called cue-dependent
forgetting because it occurs
when information has not
actually been lost from long
term memory; rather a faulty
or ineffective cue has been
used to retrieve it.
• Tip of the tongue
phenomenon
• Retrieval problems sometimes
stem from interference and
motivated forgetting
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 Interference Theory

• Interference is one of the major causes of

forgetting. The phenomenon of interference has
been studied from the time of Ebbinghaus.
• Interference is the tendency for new memories
to impair retrieval of old memories and vice
versa.
• Interference theories maintain that long term
memory is disrupted by interfering activities in
two ways.
• According to McGoech (1932) forgetting is a
result of interference and not decay.
➢Proactive Interference
➢Retroactive Interference

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 Proactive Interference

• Proactive inhibition refers to the phenomenon in which the earlier

learned material disrupts the learning of subsequent material. It can be
defined as the tendency for older or previously learned material to
interfere with the retrieval of newer or more recently learned material.

• Task- A Task- B Recall of Task- B

• Mastered Mastered Task A interfered B

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 Retroactive Interference

• Retroactive inhibition occurs when the subsequently learned material lowers

the probability of recall of earlier learned material.
• It is the tendency for new memories to interfere with retrieval of old
memories.

• Task- A Task- B Recall of Task- A

• Mastered Mastered Task B interfered A

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Motivated forgetting
• According to Sigmund Freud painful or unacceptable memories are repressed.
• But the repressed memory lingers and can be retrieved by some later cue or
during therapy.
• In an American study, 9 out of 10 university students agreed that “ memories for
painful experiences are sometimes pushed into unconsciousness”( Brown et al.,
1996)
• Modern researchers think repression rarely occurs.
• Neutral material might be forgotten intentionally but it is rather difficult for
emotional material
• We may have intrusive memories of traumatic experience we would most like to
forget ( Payne & Corrigan, 2007).

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 Memory construction errors
• Misinformation & imagination effects
• Source amnesia
• Discerning True & False Memories
• Children’s eyewitness recall
• Repressed or constructed memories of abuse

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 The Misinformation & Imagination Effect

• The process of retrieving information from long term memory is not a smooth task
• It is filled with many hurdles and problems.
• Individuals have trouble and commit errors and mistakes while retrieving
information form long term memory.
• One such memory retrieval problem that has been studied in detail by Elizabeth
Loftus is called "The Misinformation Effect".
• The Misinformation Effect, studied with reference to eyewitness testimony,
refers to the fact that misleading information that is presented after an event
has taken place can alter the accuracy of the memory for that event.
• In this effect, misleading information that is presented after an event has taken
place can affect the accuracy of the memory of the event.

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 When asked to recall details of the picture below,
participants tended to report that it was the black
man who was holding the razor.

Clearly this is not correct and shows that

memory is an active process and can be
changed to 'fit in' with what we expect to
happen based on your knowledge and
understanding of society.

Elizabeth F. Loftus is an American cognitive

psychologist and expert on human memory.
She has conducted extensive research on the
malleability of human memory. Loftus is best
known for her ground-breaking work on
the misinformation effect and eyewitness
memory, and the creation and nature of false
memories including recovered memories of
childhood sexual abuse.

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 Source amnesia/confusion
• Sometimes we may recognize a person but have no idea where we
saw that person
• We may misrecall how we learned about something ( Henkel
et al., 2000)
• Jean Piaget had a vivid detailed memory from his childhood of a maid
thwarting his kidnapping which was completely false
• This he had constructed from repeatedly hearing from the maid
• Later maid confessed this had never happened
• In attributing his “memory” to his own experiences, rather than to his
maid’s stories, Piget experienced source amnesia

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 Piaget’s story……..
• One of my first memories would date, if it were true, from my second year. I can still see, most
clearly, the following scene, in which I believed until I was about 15. I was sitting in my pram . . .
when a man tried to kidnap me. I was held in by the strap fastened round me while my nurse
bravely tried to stand between me and the thief. She received various scratches, and I can still
vaguely see those on her face. . . . When I was about 15, my parents received a letter from my
former nurse saying that she had been converted to the Salvation Army. She wanted to confess
her past faults, and in particular to return the watch she had been given as a reward on this
occasion. She had made up the whole story, faking the scratches. I therefore must have heard, as
a child, this story, which my parents believed, and projected it into the past in the form of a visual
memory. . . . Many real memories are doubtless of the same order. (Norman & Schacter, 1997, pp.
187–188)

• Piaget’s vivid account represents a case of a pure reconstructive memory. He heard the tale told
repeatedly, and doubtless told it (and thought about it) himself. The repeated telling cemented
the events as though they had really happened, just as we are all open to the possibility of having
“many real memories … of the same order.” The fact that one can remember precise details (the
location, the scratches) does not necessarily indicate that the memory is true, a point that has
been confirmed in laboratory studies, too (e.g., Norman & Schacter, 1997).

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 Discerning True & False Memories
• False memories created due to misinformation or misattribution feel as real as
true memories and they can be very persistent.
• False memories are often the cause of faulty eyewitness testimony and faulty
eyewitness identification.
• Hypnotically refreshed memories may prove to be inaccurate; especially if the
hypnotist asks leading questions such as “Did you hear loud noises?

• Memory construction helps explain why 79% of 200 convicts were exonerated by
later DNA testing who were earlier misjudged based on faulty eyewitness
identification

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 Children’s Eyewitness Recall
• It is difficult for psychologists to separate the real memories from the false
ones in cases of children
• Children themselves were not sure about their memories
• Does this mean children can never be accurate eyewitnesses?
• No. When interviewers use less suggestive , more effective technique, even 4-to
5-year- old children produce more accurate recall ( Holliday & Albon, 2004).

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 Improving memory
• Study repeatedly
• Make the material meaningful
• Activate retrieval cues
• Use mnemonic devices
• Sleep well
• Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse & to find out what you
don’t yet know

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 Synaptic Changes
• When people form memories, their neurons release neurotransmitters to other
neurons across the synapses.
• With repetition, the synapses undergo long-term potentiation (LTP), that is, the
signals are sent across the synapse more efficiently.
• It is defined as a long-lasting increase in synaptic efficacy following high frequency
stimulation of pre synaptic neurons.
• Synaptic changes include a reduction in the prompting needed to send a signal
and an increase in the number of neurotransmitter receptor sites. In other words,
neurons can show history- dependent behavior by responding differently as a
function of prior input, and this plasticity of nerve cells and synapses is the 129
basis of memory.
• Neurons that fire together wire together. It means, through repeated pairing,
there will be structural and chemical changes that will result in strengthening of
active synapses forming a stronger circuit.
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Continued……

• In neuroscience, long-term potentiation (LTP)

is a persistent strengthening of synapses based
on recent patterns of activity. These are
patterns of synaptic activity that produce a
long-lasting increase in signal transmission
between two neurons The opposite of LTP is
long-term depression, which produces a long-
lasting decrease in synaptic strength.
• Serotonin is the important neurotransmitter
which helps in LTP

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