“What was your 6th birthday party like?
“If you successfully retrieved that memory, you may now be ever so slightly less able to remember your other childhood birthdays. A variety of behavioral evidence has shown that such “retrieval induced forgetting” of strongly competing memories is fundamental to memory retrieval.”
A fascinating article was posted over at the Developing Intelligence ScienceBlog discussing how retrieving an old memory can compete with the ability to later recall similar memories. This competition is said to assist in selective memory retrieval, and reduce metabolically expensive brain activity. If you’re into neuroscience, there is plenty of that included as well, but it doesn’t make for a harder read.
Click here to read more about “retrieval induced forgetting.”