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Remembering and Forgetting

Remembering and Forgetting
Why do learners forget the things they learn? Why is it that at times some things are remembered
very well while others are completely forgotten? Behaviourists have developed the following
explanations:

The Disuse Model
According to this model, learners forget the S-R connections or associations made previously
because they grow rusty or fade away through lack of use
...
Information that is not used becomes rusty or fades
away
...


The Interference Model
Situations may arise where old information interferes with new information or vice versa
...
There are two main forms of
interference
a) Proactive Inhibition – this occurs when old information makes it difficult to remember new
information for example if you were to give learners a list of words and ask them to study it
(List A)
...
Then give them another list that is list B and ask them to study
it
...
As they try to recall words on list B they will mix A and B because memory
of A interferes with memory of B
...
If learners learn lists A and B and they are asked to recall A, they will mix
A and B because the memory of B interferes with their recall of A
...


Both retroactive and proactive inhibition/interference are greater when the items in
memory are similar for example:

List A: cat hut fat rut further goat lot cup
List B: cut hat fit rat father gate rot cap

Application/Implication:


New learning should be made clear by bringing out the similarities and differences
between old and new information



Tasks must be practiced until they are mastered
...


Information Processing Explanation – cognitive psychologists believe that the key to memory
is the way in which the material is coded and organised as it is kept in the long term memory bank
...


(a) At the Sensory Register or Short Term Sensory Storage any information that is not
attended to is lost
...


(b) At the short term/working memory rehearsal of information is important
...
Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating the
information over and over again e
...
a phone number or a shopping list
...
Another type of rehearsal is elaborative rehearsal
...
Elaborative rehearsal is important for information to be transferred
to the long term memory
...
In the long term memory we
have declarative memory and procedural memory
...

Semantic memory is memory for general facts for example you know that Kenya has
8 provinces without necessarily visiting all of them
...
Episodic memory is memory of events that occur
to a person or take place in the person’s presence
...
This is
memory for actions and skills
...
You learn
and remember how to ride a bicycle, how to turn lights on and off, etc
...


Information in the long term memory is organised in categories
...
Forgetting occurs if the memory index card is catalogued in the wrong way that is,
cataloguing errors occur
...


What causes cataloguing errors?


Cataloguing errors can occur when the learner takes in too much information within a
short time
...




If two things are similar, cataloguing errors may occur because one thing may be
remembered in place of the other
...


IMPROVING MEMORY
1
...
Rehearsal – this is repetition of what has been learnt
...
The learners should also be made aware of what the correct responses elate
to that is, try to relate what is being learnt to what was learnt before
...

3
...
Massed practice
should be avoided
...
Use of mnemonic devices – These are memory aids
...

Mnemonic devices include use of acronyms, pegword method, loci method and keyword
method
...
This method was used by the ancient Romans
as early as 6 to 82 BC
...
g
...
You enter through
the door, move next to the bed, then to the table, then to the curtains at the window,
and so on
...
You form an image that
relates the first work to the first location, another image that relates the second word to

the second location, and so on
...
Once you have memorized the items this way, you can easily recall them in
order by simply taking your mental walk again
...
This method involves two
steps
...
g
...
Hence “eye” could serve as the key word
...

To recall the meaning of caballo, you would first retrieve “eye” and then the stored
image that links it to “horse”
...
They also include acrostics e
...
phrases such as
Mercury’s Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Potatoes helps learners remember
the order of the planets that is, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto
...
The learner begins by
memorizing a set of rhymes such as one-bun, two-shoe, three-tree, etc
...
To learn a serial list of items (e
...

frog, college, earthworm, etc) the learner must form different compound images that
connect each item with its cue word
...


REFERENCES
Hilgard, E
...
(1977)
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New York: Harcourt, Brace and
World
Lamberth, J
...
Foundations of Psychology
...
R
...
Psychology for teaching
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Morris, C
...
Psychology and Introduction
...

Myers, D
...
(1990)
...
New York: Worth Publishers Inc
...

W
...
Educational psychology
...

Silverman, R
...
(1982)
...
Englewood, New Jersey Cliffs: Prentice Hall
Inc

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