Underlying Explanations for Forgetfulness

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The human brain has the ability to store and recall infinite amounts of information from previously learned actions, and instructions to newly learned data, and thought’s. So why is it, that human memory is faulty? There are many theories as to why certain memories are easily forgotten and others are engrained so deeply that it takes no energy at all to have the information recalled. Regardless, humans begin to learn as well as forget information from the time of birth till we are laid to rest. Early childhood memories are just one set of memories many tend to forget. Other factors that contribute to a lack of memory can include negative thinking, decay, encoding failure and interference, mental illness, and trauma.
Memories from early childhood, before the age of 7, are just one set of memories many have difficulty recalling. “…rapid growth of cells in the brain’s memory hub in the first years of life means that key connections between existing cells are broken. As a result, memories stored there become impossible to retrieve” (MacRae 63). When many are asked to recall early childhood memories they are unable to do so. Pictures can be used to stimulate the memory but it is usually the adult that was present during the child’s young years that tells the story relating to the picture. “Autobiographical narrative skill develops significantly over the next 4 to 5 years, such that by the time children are 6 to 7 years of age, they tell relatively complete narratives about personal events, even when talking with unfamiliar adults who do not provide content and do little to help structure the reports” (Bauer & Larkina 1). Children between 2 to 5 years of age have a higher tendency to need help telling a story and speaking t...

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... process lose some memories in the process of gaining new

References
Bauer, P. J., & Larkina, M. (2013. August 12). Childhood Amnesia in the Making: Different Distributions of Autobiographical Memories in Children and Adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0033307
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Explanations for Forgetting: Reasons Why We Forget. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivespsychology/tp/explanations-for-forgetting.htm
MacRae, F. (2013. May 25). Why we can’t remember the early days of our childhood. Daily Mail. p63.
Rathus, S. A. (2012) PSYCH. Second Edition. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. 140-161.
Wixted, J.T. (2005, February). A Theory About Why We Forget What We Once Knew. Current Directions in Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell). 14 (1), 6-9. doi: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00324.x

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