Theories of Forgetting

Several incidents occur in our lives where we forget something or the other. Whether we forget where we have placed our keys or the name of the person we met last night, forgetfulness is a very common occurrence in our daily lives. With time, psychologists have come up with several theories of forgetting, out of which five have remained popular worldwide. This blog will discuss the five popular theories of forgetting, including displacement theory, retrieval failure theory, trace decay theory, interference theory, and even consolidation theory. 

The Displacement Theory of Forgetting

The displacement theory of forgetting is relevant to short-term memory. Short-term memory has limited retaining capacity and only holds a limited amount of information. Studies conclude that an individual’s short-term memory can retain up to seven items at a time. For example, if you are given a set of numbers containing seven digits, your brain will not have any capacity left to retain information. 

The displacement theory of forgetting depends on the studies conducted based on the free recall method. According to this method, the participants listen to many words following which they are asked to recall them. Studies have shown that most of them can recall the first and the last words. Psychologists can describe the recall effect with the help of primacy and recency effects.

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The Retrieval Failure Theory of Forgetting

Endel Tulving takes credit for developing the retrieval failure theory of forgetting in the year 1974. He believed that forgetting of information occurs when an individual fails to retrieve information from their memory. Even though the information stored as long-term memory is not lost, we cannot recall it at the given moment. The best example to explain this theory is when we know a word, but we cannot remember it, and it feels as if the word is stuck at the tip of the tongue. The two main reasons for failure in memory retrieval are when there is a failure in encoding due to which the information never made it to the long-term memory in the first place. Also, there could be a retrieval failure where we cannot access the information due to a lack of retrieval cues.

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The Trace Decay Theory of Forgetting

Edward Thorndike came up with the theory of trace decay in 1914. This theory is based on the early studies conducted by Hermann Ebbinghaus on early memory. The trace decay theory of forgetting states that our memory will fade away with time if we don’t access it regularly. Neurochemical changes, known as memory traces, occur in an individual’s brain when they learn new information. Therefore, whenever they conduct memory retrieval, they must revisit the traces the brain has used during encoding. Memory retrieval depends on the time between encoding and the recall of that information. The sooner we retrieve the memory, the more quickly we can recall it and vice versa. 

The Interference Theory of Forgetting

John A. Bergstrom was the first psychologist to study the interference theory of forgetting in 1892. He stated that retrieval and recall of memory could be interrupted by previous knowledge and new information. For example, an individual will not remember what they had for breakfast on Sunday because of the number of meals consumed throughout the week. Proactive interference is the phenomenon that takes place when old memories are interfering with the new ones. At the same time, retroactive interference occurs when old memories are altered with the new ones. For example, if you have learnt French and are learning Spanish now, then while speaking French, Spanish might interfere with your previous knowledge.

The Consolidation Theory of Forgetting

Theorised by George Muller and Alfons Pilzecker in 1900, this theory is based on physiological evidence. This theory of forgetting focuses on the physiological aspects of forgetting. The process of memory consolidation takes place when the memory is stabilised to prevent disruptions. The moment a memory is consolidated, it becomes resistant to forgetting. 

Conclusion

There are five popular theories of forgetting in psychology. They are trace decay theory, retrieval failure theory, interference theory, consolidation theory, and displacement theory. While the trace decay theory focuses on time being an essence during retrieval, the retrieval theory explains the phenomenon of the tip of the tongue where we cannot recall a familiar word at a given time. The consolidation theory of forgetting focuses on how, once the memory is consolidated, becomes more resistant to forgetting and can be retrieved easily. On the other hand, the displacement theory of forgetting displaces old information with the new ones since our short-term memory has a limited capacity to retain information. Last but not least, the interference theory deals with some memories interfering with the retrieval of other memories. Proactive retrieval and retroactive retrieval of memories are the two kinds of memory retrieval interference that commonly take place during the memory retrieval process at any given time.