Forgetti n

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Forgetting
Forgetting is inability to recall a learnt topic or inability
recognize a seen object.
“Forgetting means failure at any time to recall an
experience when attempting to do so or to perform an
action previously learned” – Drever

“forgetting is the failure of the individual to revive in

consciousness an idea or group of ideas without the help
of the original stimuli”- Bhatia
▶ Types of forgetting
▶ Forgetting may be broadly classified into natural and

morbid forgetting
▶ in natural or passive forgetting, forgetting occurs with

the lapse of time in a quite normal way without any

intention of forgetting on the part of the individual
▶ In morbid or abnormal forgetting one deliberately tries to

forget something.
▶ Causes of forgetting
▶ Biological Causes

Temperament

Nutrients

Chemical imbalance

Heredity

Social Causes
Psychological Causes
 ▶ Meaninglessness of content
▶ We forget meaningless and useless content as

compared to meaningful and useful content, because

meaningless content does not leave any imprint on the
mind and it fails to establish any relationship with life.
▶ Time Lapse

▶ We forget with the passage of time. Memory weakens

with the passage of time and forgetting strengthen.

Exercise
▶ So long the knowledge or activity is not repeatedly

exercised, it gradually forget. Forgetting occurs due to

the absence of exercise, therefore more exercise is
helpful in memory.
▶
Mental conflict or Mental illness
▶ Situations like mental conflicts or illness

people find himself unable to retain a

thing in memory for a long time.
▶ Anxiety

▶ Anxiety also cause in enhancing forgetting.

An individual forgets many things or

does them wrongly when he is anxious.
▶ Learning methods
▶ When the teacher does not use the method which are

according to the physical, mental, emotional and social

levels of the child, then the forgetting occurs more by
the use of these methods.
▶ Intoxicants

▶ Excessive use of different type of intoxicants has ill

effect on the mind and memory power weakens.

▶ Theories of forgetting
▶ The trace decay theory (arried out by Brown (1958) in the United

Kingdom, and Peterson and Peterson (1959) 

▶ Some psychologists think that it is due to fading of memory

traces or decay that happens with lapse of time. Decay is what

supposedly occur when the passage of time causes us to forget.
The memory trace (or engram) fades and the memory is no
longer available.
▶ The trace decay theory of forgetting states that all memories

fade automatically as a function of time. Under this theory, you

need to follow a certain pathway, or trace, to recall a memory. If
this pathway goes unused for some amount of time, the memory
decays, which leads to difficulty recalling, or the inability to
recall, the memory.
▶ Rehearsal or mentally going over a memory, can slow this
process. But disuse of a trace will lead to memory decay, which
will ultimately cause retrieval failure. This process begins almost
immediately if the information is not used: for example,
sometimes we forget a person's name even though we have just
met them.
▶ Interference Theory
▶ It is easier to remember recent events than those further in the past.
"Transience" refers to the general deterioration of a specific memory over
time.
▶ Under interference theory, transience occurs because all memories interfere
with the ability to recall other memories.
▶ Proactive and retroactive interference can impact how well we are able
to recall a memory, and sometimes cause us to forget things
permanently
▶ (i) Proactive Interference
▶
Proactive interference occurs when old memories hinder the ability to make
new memories. In this type of interference, old information inhibits the
ability to remember new information, such as when outdated scientific facts
interfere with the ability to remember updated facts. This often occurs when
memories are learned in similar contexts, or regarding similar things. use us
to forget things permanently.
▶ Retroactive Interference
▶ Retroactive interference occurs when old memories are changed by new
ones, sometimes so much that the original memory is forgotten.
▶ This is when newly learned information interferes with and impedes the recall
of previously learned information. The ability to recall previously learned
information is greatly reduced if that information is not utilized, and there is
substantial new information being presented. This often occurs when hearing
recent news figures, then trying to remember earlier facts and figures.
Ricker, T. J., Vergauwe, E., & Cowan, N. (2016). Decay
theory of immediate memory: From Brown (1958) to
today (2014).