Causes of forgetting in Psychology

Forgetting is also known as disremembering. In other words, forgetting is an inability to recall from LTM. Forgetting is the loss of information already encoded in long-term memory (LTM). Many studies show that retention increased with the help of rehearsal and practice. The main causes of forgetting are related to psychological. Forgetting is due to a mental health problem.

Stress leads to forgetting. People are doing multi work in modern times. And they are just busy making money. The level of depression is also increasing in people. Forgetting also occurs due to depression and stress.

Forgetting

Sometimes such incidents happen in our life. That we try so hard to remember. But we don’t remember that event. Therefore, There can be many reasons for forgetting. The weakening of the mental power of a person. Aging can be a reason for forgetting. Students also have the problem of forgetting. There is a problem of forgetting even if students are more stressed during the exam.

Forgetting can happen even if you have thyroid problems. But children mostly have psychological problems. If this problem of the child is to be solved. It is very important to understand the reasons for forgetting. Because the problem can only be solved. When you know the cause of the problem.

Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was the first person to scientifically study forgetting with the help of the forgetting curve. The forgetting curve is also known as Ebbinghaus curve. The experiment of forgetting applied on himself (H. Ebbinghaus)

Computer memory is perfect but human memory is not perfect because human memory is dependent on rehearsal, practice, and encoding strength with the association.

If you forget very fast. Then it can have many reasons. And slowdown of neurons can also be the reason. Injury to the brain during an accident can also be the reason for this.

 Main causes of Forgetting

1.  Interference

 It is when some memory interferes with the retrieval of other memory. This is called interference. Interference decreased memory performance.

Types of Interference

Two types of interference. They are- Retroactive interference and Proactive interference.

I.   Retroactive Interference 

Retroactive Interference (Retro= Backward) occurs when interference of a previously learned task due to learning a new task. The main causes of retroactive interference are the maximum similarity of the stimulus.

The area of the proactive is covered by retroactive. This is called retroactive interference.

II.  Proactive Interference

    It is the effect of previously learned materials on newly learned materials. And in other wording, interfering with previously learned materials into new materials is called proactive interference.

The area of retroactive is covered by proactive. This is called proactive interference.

2. Motivated Forgetting

In some circumstances related to negative and traumatic events is that we try to forget because these events are not beneficial.

Painful and traumatic events are presented with the help of upset, tension, and other disturbance. So each person is motivated to forget the traumatic and negative events.

Motivation also plays an important role in forgetting traumatic events. The purpose of motivated forgetting is that reduce tension, upset, and other disturbance from life. Motivated forgetting is presented with the help of repression.

When you don’t want to remember events and stimuli. Then you are motivated to forget the events and stimulus.

3. Retrieval Failure

     If an individual is not fully interested in the calling of previous experiences and events then that is also the main cause of forgetting.

When you try to record an event. You can’t recall that event. And you don’t even try to recall that event. Then the forgetting condition becomes.

4.  Poor intensity and not clearness of stimulus

  In some conditions, at the time of encoding, if the stimulus is not presented with the help of clearness and good intensity of stimulus then the main causes of forgetting.

For example, If a student is sitting far back in the class. And he cannot clearly see the words written on the board. Then he may have a forgetting problem. Because the stimulus is not clear to him.

Other causes of Forgetting

There are many reasons for forgetting. They are-

I.   No rehearsal and repetition

If you stop revising the lessons and topics. Then you will be able to forget the lesson very quickly. This is what happens when you don’t rehearsal. And your recalled memory becomes very weak.

2. Methods of learning

Learning is totally dependent on the learning method. Learning is very fast with a direct method.

3. Fatigue

You shouldn’t learn if you’re fatigued. Learning should be done only after giving rest to the body and mind. By doing this your memory is very fast.

4. Mental health problem

If the person’s mental health is not good. Then he may have to face the problem of forgetting. So take care of your mental health.

5. Emotion

Emotion also affects our memory. So, we should do everything with joy. Then our memory will be sharp and effective.

Forgetting is in human nature. So, man is not perfect in the world. Everyone has a habit of forgetting sometimes. As you get older. You start forgetting more. Because your brain cells start getting damaged. And your brain starts shrinking.

If neuron connections become weak. Then you start forgetting too much. And forgetting increases your stress level. But there can be many reasons to forget.

Suggestions to eliminate forgetting

Forgetting can be eliminated. Your stimulus must be clear. Focus on stimulus. Prioritize selective attention. A person should do only one thing at a time. And work with pleasure. Because good learning happens with happiness emotion. And keep revising the lessons from time to time. Learn to do things practically

Do not use alcohol. Because alcohol decreases learning ability. Eat healthy and nutritious food. And avoid overthinking. Sleep for at least 8 hours. Go to bed early. And get up early in the morning. And do your work on time. Exercise keeps the body healthy. Good health has a positive effect on the brain. So, a person should do daily exercise.

The teacher should teach through charts and models. This makes the child interested in teaching. And children can learn more effectively.

A lesson should be read elaborately. And do group discussions on the topic. Group discussion makes learning very fast. The topic should be visualized in your brain. It sharpens memory. And remembers for a long time.

If you have a strong visual memory, then you should learn by seeing. And if your auditory memory is very powerful, then you should learn by listening.

Convert the lesson into a story. And then learn it. Make a short sentence of the story. With this, the learner understands the story well. And STM easily converts into LTM.

In summary, Man is not a computer. And man has his own biological phenomenon. Some people have more forgetting. This is due to the biological structure of their brain. And some people forget very little. This happens because they are physically and mentally strong.

5 different schools of psychology