Explanations Of Forgetting
Explanations of forgetting
Forgetting has multiple meanings in psychology, in general it refers to a person’s loss of the ability to recall or a thing they have already learned. This essay will examine the different explanations of forgetting – specifically trace decay, displacement, interference and/or cue dependent forgetting. Forgetting from STM is usually explained in terms of the information being removed from a limited capacity store. This is due to a lack of availability. The capacity and duration of LTM are in effect unlimited. Not being able to retrieve information from LTM may be due to lack of accessibility.
One explanation for forgetting in short term memory is trace decay. This explanation of forgetting in short-term memory says memories leave a trace in the brain. Hebb called this trace an engram and suggested that an Engram occurs when neurons in the brain stimulate one another. This engram is very delicate and is likely to get disrupted. Trace refers to the physical representation of information in the brain; it is some form of physical/chemical change in the nervous system. This theory suggests that forgetting is due to the automatic decay of memory trace in the brain. It is based on limited duration of short term memory and tries to explain why forgetting increases. Unless information is passed to the long term memory it will decay.
An advantage of trace decay theory is that is gives a simple explanation of forgetting from STM. It seems plausible to suggest that information may decay from memory as time passes unless it is rehearsed in some way. However, because it is a very simple and incomplete explanation of forgetting, it doesn’t explain forgetting from long term memory. There is in fact very little support for the theory.
Another theory is the displacement theory. This provides a simple explanation of forgetting and focuses on limited capacity of STM. It suggests that as new information enters STM, it pushes out older
Forgetting has multiple meanings in psychology, in general it refers to a person’s loss of the ability to recall or a thing they have already learned. This essay will examine the different explanations of forgetting – specifically trace decay, displacement, interference and/or cue dependent forgetting. Forgetting from STM is usually explained in terms of the information being removed from a limited capacity store. This is due to a lack of availability. The capacity and duration of LTM are in effect unlimited. Not being able to retrieve information from LTM may be due to lack of accessibility.
One explanation for forgetting in short term memory is trace decay. This explanation of forgetting in short-term memory says memories leave a trace in the brain. Hebb called this trace an engram and suggested that an Engram occurs when neurons in the brain stimulate one another. This engram is very delicate and is likely to get disrupted. Trace refers to the physical representation of information in the brain; it is some form of physical/chemical change in the nervous system. This theory suggests that forgetting is due to the automatic decay of memory trace in the brain. It is based on limited duration of short term memory and tries to explain why forgetting increases. Unless information is passed to the long term memory it will decay.
An advantage of trace decay theory is that is gives a simple explanation of forgetting from STM. It seems plausible to suggest that information may decay from memory as time passes unless it is rehearsed in some way. However, because it is a very simple and incomplete explanation of forgetting, it doesn’t explain forgetting from long term memory. There is in fact very little support for the theory.
Another theory is the displacement theory. This provides a simple explanation of forgetting and focuses on limited capacity of STM. It suggests that as new information enters STM, it pushes out older