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memory
Remembering a single detail can cause you to forget others.
A 1994 study demonstrated that repeatedly recalling a subset of learned information suppresses memory for related, unrecalled items.
This retrieval-induced forgetting suggests that memory is not a passive filing cabinet but an active process of strengthening and pruning. Accessing one memory path inhibits competitive pathways to reduce noise.
By remembering one specific aspect of an event, you might inadvertently erase the rest.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Anderson et al., 1994, Journal of Experimental Psychology
- What the check found
- The seminal 1994 paper 'Remembering can cause forgetting' in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition correctly identifies the phenomenon.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
memorycognitive processes
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.