User:Hsandall/Forgetting

One process model for memory was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in the 1960s as a way to explain the operation of memory. This modal model of memory, also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, suggests there are three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Each type of memory is separate in its capacity and duration. In the modal model, how quickly information is forgotten related to the type of memory where that information is stored. Information in the first stage, sensory memory, is forgotten after only a few seconds. In the second stage, short-term memory, information is forgotten after 20 seconds or so. While information in long-term memory can be remembered for years or even decades, it may be forgotten when the retrieval processes for that information fail. [USE IT OR LOOSE IT REFERENCE]

Outside of the day-to-day experiences of forgetting, people who sustain brain damage will occasionally experience problems with memory as well. Neuropsychological studies completed on people with memory problems provide information about the relationship between memory and different areas in the brain.[CITE TEXTBOOK] Cases like those of Henry Molaison (1953) who could not form new memories after his hippocampus was removed and patient K.F. (1969) who suffered damage to his parietal lobe and had poor Short-Term memory provide insight into Short-Term and Long-Term memory. Information regarding semantic and episodic memory was gathered in a similar fashion. Patient K.C. (1951) who sustained damage to his hippocampus and as a result could not remember past experiences demonstrated poor episodic memory while an Italian Woman who had an attack of encephalitis and could no longer recall facts demonstrated poor semantic memory.