Strengths and limitations of psychological theories of forgetting

[Em.]

The grivas textbook doesn't have any info about them :/
Would anyone have a few points for each??

-retrieval failure theory including tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
– interference theory
– motivated forgetting as informed by the work of Sigmund Freud including repression and
suppression
– decay theory

[Scooby]

Retrieval Failure Theory
Advantages
- Explains why apparently forgotten memories may suddenly be recalled when we given the appropriate retrieval cues
- Supported by the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Disadvantages
- Very difficult to test scientifically as the information in question may never have been encoded properly in the first place.

Interference Theory
Advantages
- Can be tested scientifically quite easily and has been supported by research.
- Appeals to personal experiences of becoming "muddled up" when retrieving similar information that was learned at around the same time.
Disadvantages
- Unclear whether memories are confused with other similar memories or whether they are simply made more difficult to locate.
- Not widely-applicable (eg. doesn't explain why the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon may occur).

Decay Theory
Advantages
- Proposes that the passage of time produces forgetting and that memory is not permanent at all.
- Neuroimaging has showed rapid and then gradual deactivation of particular neural pathways in the hippocampus when we forget.
Disadvantages
- Does not explain why apparently forgotten information may suddenly be recalled when the appropriate retrieval cues are provided.
- Research has suggested that the amount, type and complexity of information contributes more to forgetting than simply the passage of time.
- Does not explain why an individual might remember experiences from childhood better than those from the previous few days.

Motivated Forgetting
Advantages
- Explains why victims of abuse are often unable to recall details about their traumatic experience.
- Research has showed reduced hippocampal activity when we are actively suppressing information.
Disadvantages
- Research into motivated forgetting is generally unethical because it often involves traumatising the individual and then testing for motivated forgetting.
- Not a widely applicable theory - doesn't explain why we might not remember what we ate for breakfast in the morning, unless eating that breakfast was particularly traumatic.

[joseph95]

The grivas textbook doesn't have any info about them :/

Lol obviously you haven't read the textbook? Pages 371 - 388 are solely on the theories of forgetting?

[ecvkcuf]

What she meant was it doesn't talk about advantages and disadvantages of forgetting theory..