Motivated Forgetting Flashcards
What are the 2 types of forgetting?
1) Incidental Forgetting
2) Motivated forgetting
Occurs without the intention to forget
This is known as…?
Incidental forgetting
What is incidental forgetting?
Occurs without the intention to forget
What is motivated forgetting?
Purposefully diminish access to memory (e.g., unwanted memories)
When people engage in processes or behaviours that intentionally diminish accessibility for some purpose
This is known as…?
Motivated forgetting
Forgetting triggered by motivations, but lacking conscious intention.
This is known as…?
Motivated forgetting
What is Superior Autobiographical Memory?
When people have an uncanny ability to retrieve memories by their precise date (mental time travel)
When people have an uncanny ability to retrieve memories by their precise date (mental time travel)
This is known as…?
Superior Autobiographical Memory
What are the 5 characteristics of Superior Autobiographical Memory?
1) Uncontrollable remembering
2) Feels as though the person relives the events they remember
3) Remembering is “automatic”, effortless, and not under conscious control
4) Cannot forget unpleasant memories
5) Memories can be distracting for everyday activities and general function
What is the disadvantage of Superior Autobiographical Memory?
You can’t forget unpleasant memories
Memories can be distracting for everyday activities and general function
Where is the Superior Autobiographical Memory phenomenon based in?
Between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus
What memory is based here?
Between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus
Superior Autobiographical Memory
What is the forgetting rate, according to Ebbinghaus?
Forgetting increases as time progresses BUT the rate of forgetting is different
Forgetting increases as time progresses BUT the rate of forgetting is different
Who proposed this?
Ebbinghaus
What did Ebbinghaus do to investigate forgetting rate?
List 3 points
1) He studied lists of nonsense syllables
2) He tested himself after various intervals from 21 minutes to 31 days
3) He discovered the forgetting curve
Who discovered the forgetting curve?
Ebbinghaus
What is the forgetting curve?
A curve that describes the rate of forgetting after variable intervals
What does the forgetting curve suggest about the relationship between time and forgetting?
It is a logarithmic relationship
According to the forgetting curve, what is the rate of forgetting?
List 3 points
1) Forgetting happens rapidly at first
2) But forgetting gradually slowed down over time
3) The rate of forgetting he exhibited was more logarithmic than linear
True or False?
There is more additional forgetting at longer intervals
False
There is less additional forgetting at longer intervals
Describe Meeter et al.’s (2005) study of forgetting rate of public events
List 3 points
1) Selected headlines in both newspapers and television broadcasts for each day over a four-year period
2) They thought of 1,000 questions about distinct and dateable events
3) They recruited 14,000 participants to complete an online study of recall and recognition for randomly chosen 40 events
Describe the results of Meeter et al.’s (2005) study of forgetting rate of public events
List 3 points
1) Similar to Ebbinghaus forgetting curve:
Recall: steep initial drop followed by slower forgetting rate
2) RECALL for events dropped from 60% to 30% in a year
3) RECOGNITION (recognising the answer from among options) for same events was less affected (60% to 50%)
Describe Bahrick et al.’s (1975) study of forgetting rate of personal events/information
List 2 points
1) Tested Ps ability to both recognize a face or a name from among a set of unfamiliar faces or names and to match up names with faces
2) 400 US high-school graduates were tested on recalling and recognising names of classmates after delays of up to 30 years.
Describe the results of Bahrick et al.’s (1975) study of forgetting rate of personal events/information
List 4 points
1) Recognition of classmates’ faces/names remained intact
2) Match up names with faces also unimpaired
3) Recall a name when given a person’s pictures (cued recall) was extensively impaired
4) Rate of forgetting was similar to Ebbinghaus forgetting curve