11 - Retrieval
from Part II - Memory
Summary
You're taking an exam and the first question is “What was the name of the infant conditioned by Watson and Raynor (1920) to fear a white rat?” You had read the section on fear conditioning a few weeks earlier and reread it just the night before. You know that you know the infant's name, it feels as if it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't retrieve it, no matter how hard you try. Why? If you'd been asked the question shortly after reading the text, you would have been able to answer it effortlessly, so there can be no doubt that you did store the name. Why, then, can't you retrieve it?
Why do we forget?
The most obvious cause of forgetting is the passage of time: The more time that passes following an event, the harder it becomes to recall it. What is it about the passage of time, however, that causes forgetting?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Learning and Memory , pp. 395 - 440Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011