How We Forget - the Interference and the Decay Theories - Literature review Example

Why do we forget? The Interference and the Decay Theories. The assignment will disclose memory related issues, whereas the main focus will be concentrated on forgetting processes. For the paper we have chosen the trace decay theory and the Interference theory as the most interesting from our point of view. In order to develop the topic under the study we used the information from different articles connected with the psychological researches devoted to the forgetting theoriesl with latest research data and examples. The paper aims selecting the most reliable and precise source out of the list of numerous researches conducted on the topic. In the paper we used the information from the reliable sources – the psychology-related articles available in the Internet. The base of this paper is represented by the theories’’ description given in the articles containing the researches made by Douglas Potts, Gordon Brown, Stephen Lewandowsky and Wayne Wickelgren. Keywords: psychology, forgetting, the trace decay theory, the Interference theory As a starting point it seems relevant to mention that the memory as a phenomenon could be divided into three main types - working, long-term and short-term memory (Wickelgren, 1972). The theory of cognitive psychology assumes that the process of forgetting is characterized by decrease of the ability to remember things and reproduce the known information; in general, it could be described as the loss of access to the previously remembered data. Both of the chosen theories – the Trace Decay and the Interference ones – have their adherents and the issue of which theory describes the process of forgetting more relevant is still debatable. The Interference theory The adherents of this theory consider that the existing information in the human’s brain is superseded by the new one. The memory traces as they are called by the psychologists are mutually replaced on the base of their similarity, this similarity may be phonetic semantic or visual (Wickelgren, 1972). According to the information given by the researcher Douglas Potts the interference could be divided into two types – proactive and the retroactive interference. So according to this theory there may be two ways of memorizing: original information is stronger and prevents from memorizing the new one, and as a result it is forgotten; and the opposite case when the “old” information is forgotten, being replaced (Potts, 1996 p.6). The origin of this theory belongs to the psychologists Waugh and Norman (1965) and later this theory was supported by such psychology researches as Baddeley and Scott (1971). The interference is considered to be the main reason for forgetting (Altman, Gray). As an example of this theory applied in practice we can provide the information given in the research made by Ann Cybenko: for example, the person forgets his\her acquaintance’s name after meeting many people and their names interfered with the name of the first person (Cybenko, 2011 p.12). This experiment can be easily made within a small group of people and doesn’t need special equipment. The phenomenon of interference should not be confused with the positive transference, when the previous information helps memorizing the new one. This phenomenon is observed, for example, when a driver starts to learn to drive a new car brand after changing his own car. A similar effect could be noticed by a polyglot who starts learning another foreign language. The Interference theory is considered by different researches, such as D. Potts, to be one of the most useful and accurate (Potts, 1996). Trace Decay theory The other theory which is not as popular among the psychologists and is considered to be less useful is called the Decay theory. The decay theory is aimed to explain the other way of forgetting processes. According to the researches on the given theory it claims that the information which had not been used for a long period of time disappears gradually from the memory, while the Interference theory asserts that the information is substituted within the memory cells (Neath, Nairne, 1995 p.1). This process could be possibly connected with the age-related changes in the human’s brain and different kinds of brain damage. Also it seems relevat to mention that according to the researches based on the Decay theory the psychologists developed that a time-dependent process unlike the one represented in the Interference theory. Considering the examples of this theory we should mention that the modern researchers Gordon D. A. Brown and Stephan Lewandowsky point out that the process of forgetting is closely connected with the length of the words the person tries to remember or recollect (Brown, Lewandowsky, 2008). This theory is supported by the experiments held by psychologist Ebbinghaus (1913) – the first researcher who developed the given theory. Ebbinghaus ran the first psychological experiment on forgetting (Tulving, 1985). Also he was the first psychologist who found the forgetting curve in 1885, which shows what part of the reading is remembered at different time intervals also he states that in the early hours the volume of the assimilated information quickly falls and after 10 hours it is only 35% of the studied material. We lose the ability to reproduce and remember information - the nature of this loss can be instant, but the curve of the experiment suggests that it could go and gradually. Factors that influence the process of forgetting could be completely different (on the one hand they depend on the quality of information, on the other - on the person’s actions). The person begins to forget the material almost immediately after reading it. The forgetting curve, which was created by Ebbinghaus during his numerous experiments, indicated that the process were uneven (Cybenko, 2011). Further researches showed that the amount of the information which can be remembered varies depending on the manner of the material presentation. People with a predominance of auditory memory remember more data if it is read aloud to them; those with a predominance of visual memory are able to remember the bigger number of elements, if these elements are presented to them in a written form. However, difference between auditory and visual memory is not so significant (Wickelgren, 1972 p.422). The Decay theory could be proved by making an experiment with the use of Serial Probe Technique suggested by the psychologists Waugh and Norman. The subjects are given a certain amount of information and after certain period of time. The drawback of this test is the fact that the subjects are able to recollect some information. When the Decay takes place the information is permanently forgotten. As an example we can provide the case studied by the researchers Jenkins and Dallenbach. These two researchers asked their subjects to learn the lists of nonsense syllables and repeated tis experiment after certain periods of sleep and daily activities (Forgetting, p.2). One more example could be taken from the historical cases when the nurse who brings up a child speaks, for example, Spanish and the child speaks Spanish to her as well, but later becoming adult the child forgets Spanish without any connection with his\her nurse and this way without any kind of practice. In conclusion of this assignment it seems important to mention that both studied theories are very important for the modern psychological studies and are closely related. Most researchers consider the Interference theory to be more suitable and accurate while some still find the Decay theory more worthwhile. The theory of memory traces decay assumes that the process of forgetting occurs in consequence of the previously learned information disuse. In its turn, the second studied theory (Interference theory) adherents’ claim that the forgetting should be described as a process which occurs between previously learned and the new material. A great number of tests and experiments were made during the last century and some of the examples are represented in the given paper. In general we can say that the process of forgetting that occurs in the long-term memory is possibly connected with either the destruction of the trace, or the substitution the one piece of information by the other information similar to or supporting the first one. Nevertheless all the researchers assume that both theories are closely connected despite the fact they describe the process of forgetting from different points. Also, the numerous studies made by Brown, Ward, Tan, Lewandowsky, et al. show that the process depicted in the Decay theory is not the first source of forgetting the information and the Interference theory is and it is also much more preferable to be used in the modern psychological studies. References Altman, Erik M., Gray. Wayne D. FORGETTING TO REMEMBER: The Functional Relationship of Decay and Interference. Research Article. Michigan State University and George Manson University. Retrieved the 28th of February from: https://www.msu.edu/~ema/altmg02.pdf Brown, Gordon D. A. and Lewandowsky, Stephan (2008). Forgetting in memory models: Arguments against trace decay and consolidation failure. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://websites.psychology.uwa.edu.au/labs/cogscience/Publications/FINAL%20BrownLewandowskyRev2.pdf Connerton, Paul (2008). Seven types of forgetting. Memory Studies. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/201/articles/08Connerton7TypesForgetting.pdf Cybenko, Anne Katherine (2011). Interference in a Modified Recognition Task: An Evaluation of the Changed-trace and Multiple-trace Hypotheses. University of California riverside. Retrieved the 28th of February from: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5zw0470p#page-1 Forgetting. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://socialscientist.us/nphs/psychIB/psychpdfs/Forgetting.pdf Li, Stella, Richardson, Rick (2015). Traces of memory: Reacquisition of fear following forgetting is NMDAr-independent. School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/20/4/174.full.pdf+html Neath, Ian and Nairne, James S. (1995). Word-length effects in immediate memory: Overwriting trace decay theory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://www2.psych.purdue.edu/~nairne/pdfs/28.pdf Potts, Douglas B. (1996). Why We Forget. Douglas Potts Consulting. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://www.dpottsconsulting.com/articles/why%20we%20forget.pdf Tulving, Endel (1985). Ebbinghaus’s Memory: What did he learn and remember. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://alicekim.ca/JEP85.pdf Waugh and Norman – SERIAL PROBE TECHNIQUE. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://notes.r-js.co.uk/a-level/psychology/forgetting/trace%20decay%20explanation%20of%20forgetting.pdf Wickelgren, Wayne A (1972). Trace Resistance and the Decay of Long-Term Memory. Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403. JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL PSYCHOLOGY,418-455. Retrieved the 28th of February from: http://www.columbia.edu/~nvg1/Wickelgren/papers/1972bWAW.pdf Read More