forgetting

n. the failure to remember material previously learned. Numerous processes and theories have been proposed throughout the long history of study to account for forgetting, including decay theory and interference theory. Forgetting typically is a normal phenomenon but it may also be pathological, as, for example, in amnesia.

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Psychology term of the day

November 28th 2024

complementary classification

in classification tasks, the grouping of items from conceptually different categories into a superordinate class based on an individual’s mental associations from past experience. For example, cow, tractor, and farmer may be grouped because they are all found on a farm. Also called functional classification; schematic classification; thematic classification. Compare conceptual classification; idiosyncratic classification; perceptual classification.