1000 word limit essay for the 'Cognitive Psychology' module on memory and forgetting.
Answering the question: 'What can we do to avoid forgetting? Explain using cognitive psychology theories and research evidence'.
What can we do to avoid forgetting? Explain using Cognitive Psychology theories
and research evidence.
Several methods have been theorised over the years to aid the prevention of
forgetting and avoid it all together. Some of these theorises are the depth of processing
hypothesis (Craik and Lockhart, 1972), organisation in storage, imagery (specifically dual
coding from Paivio, 1971) and context encoding specificity hypothesis.
The depth of processing hypothesis is a theory from the work done by Craik and
Lockhart (1972) suggests that the deeper information is within ones memory the harder it is
for said information to be forgotten as well as it allows for a better recall of the information.
The theory puts forward two levels of processing (shallow and deep) with two types of
rehearsal for the initial stages of memorisation (maintenance and elaborative). So, the theory
would suggest that with a combination of the rehearsal types of information can get into the
deep level of processing so that it is not forgotten, and recall is possible. Elaborative
rehearsal is the key type that stores information at the deepest level for permanent storage
as it is more complex using the meanings of information pieces along with links to storage
the information. The theory overall points to if one is to avoid forgetting they are to use
methods of elaborative rehearsal to get information to the deepest point of processing so
that recall is easiest, and it cannot be forgotten. Evidence for this can be seen when
participants are presented words that are of the same ‘case’, ‘rhyme’ and ‘group’. Results
from this show that words of the same group tend to be stored at a deeper level and are thus
remembered, recalled, and not forgotten to a higher success.
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