Forgetting is an all too common part of daily life.
Sometimes thesememoryslips are simple and fairly innocuous, such as forgetting to return a phone call.
Memory failures are an almost daily occurrence.
zeljkosantrac / Getty Images
However, forgetting is generally not about actuallylosingor erasing this information from your long-term memory.
Forgetting typically involves a failure inmemory retrieval.
In experiments where he used himself as the subject, Ebbinghaus tested his memory using three-letter nonsense syllables.
He then published his findings in 1885 inMemory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.
Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned.
Information stored inlong-term memoryis surprisingly stable.
Imagine the last time you took an exam for school.
So how do we know when something has been forgotten?
Well-known memory researcherElizabeth Loftushas proposed four key explanations forwhy forgetting occurs.
These have led to some major theories of forgetting.
Interference Theory
What did you have for dinner Tuesday night of last week?
Is that difficult to recall?
This is a good example of what psychologists call the interference theory of forgetting.
According to interference theory, forgetting is the result of different memories interfering with one another.
The more similar two or more events are to one another, the more likely interference will occur.
Unique and distinctive events, however, are less likely to suffer from interference.
Another tactic to fight interference is to switch up your routine and avoid studying similar material back to back.
Break up the material and switch to a completely different subject each study session.
Sleep also plays an essential role in memory formation.
Information inshort-term memorylasts several seconds and if it is not rehearsed, the neurochemical memory trace quickly fades.
If the time interval is short, more information will be recalled.
If a longer period of time passes, more information will be forgotten and memory will be poorer.
The idea that memories fade over time is hardly new.
The Greek philosopher Plato suggested such a thing more than 2,500 years ago.
Later, experimental research by psychologists such as Ebbinghaus bolstered this theory.
In real-world situations, many things happen between the formation of a memory and the recall of that information.
Or did the multitude of information acquired during that interval of time play a role?
Testing this can be exceedingly difficult.
Another problem with decay theory is it does not account for why some memories fade quickly while others linger.
Novelty is one factor that plays a role.
Try this well-known demonstration first used by researchers Nickerson and Adams.
From memory, have a go at draw the back side of a penny.
Once you are done, compare your drawing to an actual penny.
Are you surprised by how poorly you recalled what the back of a penny looks like?
These cues are elements that were present at the time that the actual memory was encoded.
A Word From Verywell
Forgetting is simply a part of life.
Numerous theories explain how and why we forget.
In many situations, several of these explanations might account for why we cannot remember.
Still, we can work tobecome better at recalling information.
Psychology professionals sometimes refer to forgetting as amnesia, memory loss, or disremembering.
Aronowitz S.Retrieval is central to the distinctive function of episodic memory.Behav Brain Sci.
2018;41:e2.
doi:10.1017/S0140525X17001248
Murre JM, Dros J.Replication and analysis of Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve.PLoS One.
2015;10(7):e0120644.
In: Kreutzer JS, DeLuca J, Caplan B, eds.Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology.
2012;40(8):12361245. doi:10.3758/s13421-012-0224-2
Penn Medicine.Memory loss.
National Institute on Aging.Memory, forgetfulness, and aging: What’s normal and what’s not?
Hunt RR, Worthen JB.Distinctiveness and Memory.
Oxford University Press; 2006.
Tulving E.Cue-dependent forgetting.American Scientist.1974;62(1):74-82.
Willingham DT.Cognition: The Thinking Animal (3rd ed.
).Pearson/Prentice Hall; 2007.
