In its basic form, memory can be termed as the storage and retrieval of information. This normally takes place in steps; retention, encoding, storage, and retrieval. Notably, disruption of memory can occur at any of the stages. With regards to disruption that occurs at the retrieval stage, there are several factors that role play and can be termed as useful factors that determine whether the stored information can be retrieved for use or not. It should be noted that retrieval is perhaps the most important of the four stages considering that it is the stage that is mostly used to ascertain if the processes that occurred in the other stages were successful.
One of the leading factors that may cause disruption of recalling is decay as a result of disuse (Rajamanickam, 2008). As Rajamanickam (2008) asserts, time is a crucial player in this disruption as the forgotten information is always the information that has not been used for relatively a long duration of time. As was postulated by Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), the first proponent of the disuse theory of forgetting, the longer the duration that one stays without retrieving a stored information, the more the likelihood of forgetting the information.
The degree of organization of the information in the brain is yet another factor that determines the ability of recalling. Information stored in an organized manner is easy to recall compared to information stored in no apparent manner. Bousfield (1953) carried out an experiment to prove this assertion whereby he presented participants with 60 words (Galotti, Fernandes, Fugesang, & Stolz, 2010). The participants seemed to recall more words if the words were organized in a certain manner compared to when the words were presented to them at random (Galotti, et. al. 2010). Concisely, to anyone having a problem with recalling, the most common presentation is forgetfulness though this can be meliorated through organizing information and revisiting information more often in a bid to prevent forgetting as a result of decay.
References
Galotti, K. M., Fernandes, M. Fugesang, J. & Stolz, J. (2010). Cognitive Psychology: In And Out Of The Laboratory. Canada: Nelson.
Rajamanickam, M. (2008). Modern General Psychology, Second Edition (revised And Expanded). New Delhi, India: Concept Publishing.
