Memory takes place in a three stage process: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Forgetting can be the result of an interference failure at any one of these three steps.
An encoding failure would be when you do not process the information so that it can be stored.
Think of the difficulty of remembering a letter in a field of distractors.
Storage failure results when the memory is lost or fades from our storage.
Retrieval failure occurs when you cannot get the memory out of storage when you need it.
Think of remembering the correct answer on a test AFTER you have left the classroom.
Interference can impact any of the stages of memory.
Encoding interference is when additional and irrelevant information prevent you from encoding the desired information.
At retrieval and storage, we can have proactive interference or retroactive interference.
Proactive interference is when previously learned information impacts your ability to retrieve more recently learned information.
Retroactive interference is when more recently learned information impacts your ability to retrieve older learned information.
As you can see, there are many ways to “forget” something.