Oblivion and amnesia, differences
Introduction
Over time, people are remembered by worse and worse of the events they have lived and the information they have acquired. Forgetting is not bad but necessary and beneficial. If we could remember every minute and every detail of our existence it would be unbearable and it would not be effective when at some point we would like to recover specific information.
Actually, what worries us is to forget things that we consider important and that are useful for our daily lives. As we age, the functioning of our brain is varying and we do not have exactly the same capabilities as young people. But this does not mean that something goes wrong. There is nothing strange to occasionally forget dates indicated or make specific mistakes in routine activities.
Developing
Causes
Some causes are decay, eliminating subsumption, interference, recovery failure, repression, construction error and storage failure.
Theory of decay
Information can weaken or decline and finally disappear from memory, especially when information is not used. This can happen, for example, when we want to do some mathematical operation that was easy for us when we were little. When information is not recovered or information is not practiced, it may be very difficult to evoke it in an effective way. Of course, if we want. Although it has also been shown that some information that has not been remembered or evoked for a long time, can be kept stable in the long term. Sometimes, failure when evoking memory information may be due to momentary problems or situations. For example, if we are very nervous, stressed or worried about something, access to information can be blocked. Probably at another time the information can be recovered more easily.
Eliminating subsumption
A variation of decay theory is the notion of Ausubel’s eliminating subsumption. According to Ausubel, meaningful learning is a process of subsumating new information in long -term memory under other more general and supraordinal information. Over time, this specific information may be absorbed by supraordinal; In other words, they are subsumed in a qualifying way. For example, a teacher can present a general concept, and then illustrate the concept with a series of examples; The student probably subsumes the example under the concept. Over time, however, some of the examples may no longer distinguish themselves from the concept itself and finally merge into the concept that eliminates them. At this time, the concept is still remembered, but the examples are forgotten. As proof of this theory, Ausubel argues that general ideas are better remembered than specific details. In addition, the details that are distinctive are remembered in some way, while the least distinctive are forgotten or more blurred. The notion of eliminating subsumption is consistent with what we normally observe from the types of information we remember in front of the types we forget. However, as with the theory of decay, we have little evidence so far that it supports or refutes its validity as an important and distinctive factor in oblivion.
Interference theory
It occurs because of the competition between the experiences that a person lives. The retained information is lost because another new one is entering and occupying its place, that is, the new information is interfering with what is already possessed. We distinguish two types: proactive interference, by which learned information hinders subsequent learning (for example, a student student who, when carrying out an opposition, has to adapt to a new legislation), and retroactive interference, which occurs when a Recent learning interferes with the memory of past information (for example, the memorization of a new language interferes with the persistence of those already learned).
Recovery failures
They occur when people fail to "search" in that long -term memory that contains the information that is desired. Perhaps the information was stored without connecting it to other ideas; Consequently, even a broad search in memory fails to focus it, that is, activate it. Sometimes we believe that we have forgotten information that, in reality, never became part of the long -term memory. It is what happens when, at the time of registering it, we have not paid enough attention, either because something has distracted us or because the information they gave us did not interest us or motivated us enough. In order for information to be properly registered, it should be ensured that the senses and attention are well active.
Repression
In some situations we can suffer an experience that is so painful or affects us both emotionally that we tend not to remember or remember only isolated fragments. This phenomenon is known as repression and was first described by Sigmund Freud. He thought that the repression of sad or unpleasant memories is a defense mechanism to combat anxiety. But unlike suppression, which is a conscious attempt to think about something, repression is unconscious. Painful information begins to produce anxiety when approaching the relevant part of long -term memory. As anxiety itself is unpleasant, memory search tends to avoid the long -term memory part that causes anxiety. In this way, the painful memory, as well as any other information stored in close association with him, remains out of reach and remains basically "forgotten".
Storage failures
A final explanation of "forgetfulness" is that information may never have been learned. We may not pay attention to information, so that it never entered the working memory. Or maybe we would not have prosecuted enough to go to memory in the long term.
Infanti amnesia
Child amnesia refers to the inability we have to remember anything from our first years of life and that also appears from seven years of age. This amnesia usually affects the memories that occurred before three years of age. It is not that children who do not exceed that age do not have memory: they are able to remember what happens to them. These memories simply disappear over time. Although there is still no total consensus on the exact causes for which we are not able to remember practically anything from our first years of life, there are various hypotheses in this regard. The first is that the brain structures that are actively involved in explicit memories (hippocampus and frontal cortex) are not fully developed at birth, and the frontal cortex in particular continues to mature significantly for several years later. And another cause would be to talk about experiences increase their memory, but young children do not have linguistic skills to talk about them. As they learn better to speak, and especially when other people in the environment involve them in conversations about the experiences they are living, their memories increase surprisingly. It is possible that talking about events allows them to code them verbally (based on language), which causes them to be more easily recovered.
conclusion
"If we remembered everything, we would be as sick as if we didn’t remember anything," said William James. Everything that was once in memory and is no longer forgotten, and although it seems paradoxical, the good memory of memory depends on oblivion.
References
- Ellis, j.EITHER. (2005). Human learning. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall (4th edition). (s.F.). Recovered from File: /// c:/users/jenni/downloads/learning_human_4ta_edicion- _ellis_or.PDF
- Child Amnesia. (s.F.). Recovered from https: // psychology andly.com/Psychology/Amnesia-Infantil
- Human memory. (s.F.). Recovered from https: // www.mheducation.ES/BCV/Guide/CHAPTER/8448180607.PDF
- Memory and oblivion. (s.F.). Recovered from https: // blog.FPMARAGALL.org/memory-and-collid
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