An Intro to Retrieval-Induced Forgetting

Introduction

Imagine you’re the host of a bustling house party. You’ve invited a bunch of friends and acquaintances, and those guests have brought friends of their own. You start talking with some of the new faces – they introduce themselves, and shortly thereafter they begin sharing monotonous details about their jobs and showing you pictures of their pet gerbils. Suddenly, a co-worker you know from the same company (who also owns a pet gerbil) walks over and starts chatting with you. The problem? You can’t remember their (or their pet gerbil’s) name!

This memory disappearing act is called retrieval-induced forgetting, and it’s something we at Dekki take very seriously.

What is Retrieval-Induced Forgetting?

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is a memorization phenomenon that was originally identified by Anderson, Bjork, and Bjork in 1994. During the process of memorizing new pieces of information, sometimes your brain can forget (or have difficulty remembering) related, but unreviewed concepts.

While we’re still not sure why exactly this occurs, some postulate that RIF acts as a way for your brain to declutter long-term memory. The challenge is, sometimes it throws out important stuff you wanted to keep!

Impact on Learning

RIF can certainly throw a wrench in your learning gears, especially when you’re trying to master a lot of related information—like when cramming for exams, switching between coding languages, or juggling the history of 14th-century monarchs with quantum physics. The main risk here? You might end up remembering everything about Newton but forgetting about Niels Bohr!

Innovative Solutions

At Dekki, we’ve built our platform with RIF in mind, tackling the challenges this phenomenon poses in a few different ways:

• Spaced Repetition: Our spaced repetition system is like your brain’s personal assistant, gently reminding it of what’s important at just the right times. This method makes sure all the party guests (aka your memories) get a chance to make an impression, not just the loud ones!
• Interleaved Practice: We help support interleaved practice by mixing up subject areas and subtopics to promote improved long-term retention.
• Adaptive Learning: Dekki’s algorithm adjusts to your content expertise and learning style, so you’re reviewing more of what you don’t know, and less of what you already know!
• Feedback Systems: Immediate feedback on Dekki isn’t just about correcting mistakes—it’s about reinforcing what you’ve learned and spotlighting the dusty corners of your mind before they’re forgotten.

Conclusion

Understanding retrieval-induced forgetting isn’t just academic—it’s a game-changer for anyone looking to learn more effectively. At Dekki, we’re here to make sure that while your brain is busy hosting the knowledge party, no important guest is left out.

However, there’s still a lot more work to be done. We’re working hard on innovative cognitive science approaches to help eliminate RIF. Dive deeper into the science behind our methods on our blog and discover more ways to keep your mental party popping!