Why do we forget?

Assignment for Introduction to Psychology Teacher: Mrs. Chanda Karmakar

Submitted by: Monirul Islam 121102009 BSc in Economics

Why Do we Forget?

Forgetting is the term used when a person or organism cannot remember or recall a memory that was once stored.

Psychologists have suggested theories for forgetting, and among them, the prominent three are:

1. Decay Theory. 2. Interference Theory 3. Cue Dependent Theory. In this assignment I am explaining why Interference Theory better explains than other theories of forgetting.

Interference Theory suggests that some memories compete and interfere with other memories.

There are two types: 1. Proactive Interference 2. Retroactive Interference.

Proactive Interference Proactive interference occurs when something that we previously learned interferes with remembering newer information. E.g. Learning old psychological theories similar to the new one prevent us by remembering the new information.

Retroactive Interference Retroactive interference occurs when newer information learned interferes with remembering previously learned information. E.g. learning new stuffs in psychology might have an impact in remembering older principles.

Though all the theories help to understand why we forget, the interference theory is one which I chose to emphasis upon. This is because; Decay theory does not take into the account the fact that children remember what they did before. Also, Cue-Dependent theory is not fool-proof as even with cues, people cannot remember everything. Interference theory has been researched by psychologists based upon the scientific method so it is reliable. By using Neurobiological scans, scientists have found empirical data supporting this theory.