Proactive Interference Theory Of Forgetting

Forgetting is something that occurs in daily basis in our lives. Whether it is something we did yesterday or an episode from our childhood, we don’t always remember everything. But why do we actually forget? In simple terms, forgetting is said to be the inability to remember something. In psychology, (Pam, 2013) forgetting is defined as the loss of ability to recognize or recall something that should be remembered. Forgetting could occur in two stages of our memory, the long term memory and the short term memory. Generally, forgetting can be subcategorized into three categories, the case of trace decay in short term memory, the case of interference in long term memory and the cue dependence theory of forgetting. (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix

The interference theory proposes that forgetting occurs because memories interfere and rattle one another. In other words forgetting happens due to the interference from other memories (McLeod, 2008). Information in long term memory interfere with another data in the process of remembering. The two types of interference that occurs are proactive interference and retroactive interference. Proactive interference occurs when old information or memories disrupt the new memories. This interference is in the reverse direction to the retroactive interference. For example, when we try to recall a new phone number, the old phone number could proactively interfere during the process of recalling the new phone number. It would make it more difficult to remember the new phone number as our memories are focused on the old phone number. Retroactive interference occurs when the old memories are being disrupts by the current memories. Retroactive interference refers to the disrupting effect that learning new materials has on the ability to recall previously learnt information. For instance, when a student is studying and doing revision for exam, they tend to forget the previously learnt knowledge in order to store the new knowledge obtained. A person will be able to recall or remember more of what he or she has studied recently compared to the topic that was studied earlier. (McLeod, 2008) stated that students who study same

(Howes, 2007) the cue dependant theory of forgetting says, forgetting occurs due to the insufficient retrieval cues to assist in retrieving memories. “Cues are any representation that is present in awareness, a thought, an idea, perceptual images, an emotion or even physiological condition”. (Howes, 2007, p. 114). Generally, cues serve as a linkage between the information perceived and available in the short term memory and the information stored in the long term memory. In most cases, cues make contact with the long term memory in matching basis. For example, if food is the cue presented in the short term memory, materials that are related or associated with food stored in the long term memory will be accessed. The absence of cues causes the process of retrieving information stored in the long term memory to be delayed or unsuccessful. However, not all content in awareness generates memory retrieval. According to present hypothesis, when a stimuli that is of no interest to a person is presented, low levels of activations occur, causing information to be accessed but not retrieved (Kintsch as cited by Howes, 2007). Kintsch stated, these information are often overridden by stronger levels of activation that corresponds to the stimuli that is in the person’s interest. For example, when a person is sitting in their lecture hall, most of the stimuli presented that are insignificant to the subject