According to Cherry, Psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus scientifically study forgetting. Ebbinghaus tested his memory and published his findings in 1885, The result was plotted in what now referred to as the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. The curve showed a relationship between forgetting and time. In the beginning, knowledge is lost very quickly after it is learned. It also revealed that forgetting does not continuously decline until all knowledge is lost because at certain level, the amount of forgetting stabilizes. This means that the stored knowledge in the long-term memory is also stable.
Cherry states memory retrieval as a process of accessing stored knowledge in the long-term memory. She proposes 4 basic ways to access stored memories. These are:1. RECALL – accessing stored knowledge in the absence of cues or prompts. One good example of recall is answering a fill-in-the-blank test.
2. RECOLLECTION – involves reconstruction involving logical structures, partial memories, stories or clues. An essay exam exemplifies recollection as the individual remembers bits of information and reconstructing the remaining information based on his/her partial recollections.
3. RECOGNITION – identifies information after experiencing it. Answering a multiple choice quiz involves recognizing the correct choice out of a group of available answers.
4. RELEARNING – study again the learned information. It will become effortless to remember if the knowledge is learned again.
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References
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Forgetting: When Memory Fails. In About. com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/forgetting.htm
Cherry, K.(n.d.). Memory Retrieval. In About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/memory_retrival.htm
