Scientific Reason behind forgetting.

What are some of the major reasons why we forget
information? One of today's best known memory
researchers, Elizabeth Loftus, has identified four major
reasons why people forget: retrieval failure,
interference, failure to store, and motivated forgetting.
1. Retrieval Failure
Have you ever felt like a
piece of information has
just vanished from
memory? Or maybe you
know that it's there, you
just can't seem to find it.
The inability to retrieve a
memory is one of the most
common causes of
forgetting.
So why are we often unable to retrieve information
from memory. One possible explanation retrieval
failure is known as decay theory. According to this
theory, a memory trace is created every time a new
theory is formed. Decay theory suggests that over time,
these memory traces begin to fade and disappear. If
information is not retrieved and rehearsed, it will
eventually be lost.
One problem with this theory, however, is that research
has demonstrated that even memories which have not
been rehearsed or remembered are remarkably stable in
long-term memory.
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2. Interferance
Another theory known as interference theory suggests
that some memories compete and interfere with other
memories. When information is very similar to other
information that was previously stored in memory,
interference is more likely to occur.
There are two basic types of interference:
Proactive interference is when an old memory
makes it more difficult or impossible to remember
a new memory.