Forgetting- Definition , Types of Forgetting, Theories of Forgetting, Ebbinghaus forgetting curve Causes of Forgetting

1. FORGETTING- CAUSES OF FORGETTING
Suresh Babu G
Assistant Professor

2. FORGETTING
• Forgetting is the loss of
the ability to recall or
recognize something
learned earlier.
• It is the failure of the
individual to revive in
consciousness an idea
or group of ideas
without the help of the
original stimulus.

3. Definition of Forgetting
• Munn: “Forgetting is the loss permanent or
temporary of the ability to recall or recognize
something learnt earlier”
• Drever: “Forgetting means failure at any time to
recall an experience, when attempting to do so
or perform an action previously done.

4. Types of Forgetting
• Natural Forgetting
• Morbid or Abnormal Forgetting
• General Forgetting
• Specific Forgetting
• Physical Forgetting
• Psychological Forgetting

5. Kinds of Forgetting
• Passive or Natural Forgetting :
In this, there is no intention of
forgetting on the part of the
individual. For example, we
forget many things with time
lapse.
• Active or morbid forgetting : In
this, the individual deliberately
tries something. For example,
we make deliberate efforts to
forget the better experiences of
life.

6. The Forgetting Curve
• Curve of forgetting is a line-graph picturing the
decline of retention with lapse of time.
• Forgetting increases with lapse of time, or in other
words retention diminishes with time.
• It has also been noticed that the rate of forgetting
is very initially and then diminished gradually over
time.
• The curve obtained on the graph paper by plotting
the amount forgotten as a function of time is
named as curve of forgetting.
• The curve shows a rapid fall immediately after
learning, and a gradual flattening out with increase
of time interval.

7. Hermann Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
The first systematic attempt to study the
phenomenon of forgetting was done in 1885 by
Herman Ebbinghaus, a German Psychologist.
Ebbinghaus started by memorizing lists of words and testing how many he could
recall. To avoid the use of association, he then created 2,300 “nonsense syllables”,
all three letters long and using the standard word format of consonant-vowel-
consonant: for example, “ZUC” and “QAX”. Grouping these into lists, he looked at
each syllable for a fraction of a second, pausing for 15 seconds before going
through a list again. He did this until he could recite a series correctly at speed. He
tested different lengths and different learning intervals, noting the speed of learning
and forgetting. Ebbinghaus found that he could remember meaningful material, such
as a poem, ten times more easily than his nonsense lists. He also noted that the
more times the stimuli (the nonsense syllables) were repeated, the less time was
needed to reproduce the memorized information. Also, the first few repetitions
proved the most effective in memorizing a list.

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10. Suresh Babu G

11. Theories of Forgetting
There are four major theories of forgetting they are
:
• Decay Theory : Which states that time alone
causes memory traces to fade. Memory fades
through disuse.
• Interference Theory : Which suggests that
other memories interfere with remembering.
There is interference from competing materials.

12. • Motivated Forgetting Theory : Which suggests
that we forget information that is unpleasant or
threatening.
• Retrieval Failure Theory : Which propose that
information memory must be distorted when we
attempt to recall it. The right retrieval cue is not
used.
Theories of Forgetting

13. Suresh Babu G
 Inadequate impression at the time of learning
 Lapse of time
 Interference of association- Proactive Inhibition and
Retroactive Inhibition
 Repression
 Rise of emotions
 Alteration of stimulus condition
 Poor health and defective mental state
 Age
 Disease
 Accidents
 Biological malfunction of brain and nervous system

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