Question

Which of the five reasons for forgetting do you think explains the majority of incidences of forgetting? Why? Can you think of any examples in your own life?

Answer 1

The following reasons can explain majority of incidences of forgetting:

• Faulty encoding: Constructive process at work during the process of encoding can distort what is stored in memory and we may end up remembering the distortions.
• Interference: Material that is learned before or after the information we are trying to memorise can inhibit its recall.
• Retrieval issues: Some retrieval cues and reconstructive processes help us remember previously learned material, and their absence can inhibit recall.
• Repression: In some cases, individuals are motivated to forget certain information and unconscious forces act upon them to keep such memories away from awareness.

• Amnesia: The term amnesia refers to loss of memory. It is a kind of memory disorder which occurs from a loss of what has already been stored and can occur due to psychological or biological trauma.

?The forgetting that occurs in our everyday lives is usually due to a combination of several factors. However, I usually tend to forget because of faulty encoding processes. I learn several concepts in class and read up a lot of learning material. However, I am not always attentive and sometimes get distracted quite easily, even though I am physically present and perceiving the information. At such instances however, I inevitably end up forgetting everything because I had not processed the information thoroughly in the first place.