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Does forgetting aid learning?

Started by Captain Utopia, June 16, 2010, 06:26:03 AM

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Captain Utopia

I can't recall where I read that it might - by easing the formation and usage of generalities and highlighting exceptions.  We do seem to be able to learn and function while forgetting almost everything we experience - single days, weeks or even entire years.. but I'm not particularly happy with that explanation.

Telarus

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frogsicle

Don't forget the part where forgetting meaningless details allows for the recall of important ones without having to flip through our heads like an extremely overstuffed filing cabinet.
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Requia ☣

What you saw before might be related to reinforcement, going over things multiple times makes them easier to remember.  It's possible that forgetting aid in learning in that it makes a person both more likely and more able to go over material a second time.
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Triple Zero

Quote from: Captain Utopia on June 16, 2010, 06:26:03 AM
Does forgetting aid learning?

I can't recall where I read that it might -

:mittens:

:lulz:
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e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

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Captain Utopia

 :argh!:  But at the same time, it's not like I did learn anything I could recall later  :wink:

I guess there's no way to answer this question without, say, building an AI which had perfect recollection.

AFK

Is it that forgetting aids learning, or that learning necessitates forgetting? 
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Captain Utopia

Or is forgetting just a side-effect of our squishy brain, and it's a miracle that we function at all?

Telarus

http://frank.itlab.us/forgetting/

Read the "Curve of Forgetting" section lower on the page.

Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

Captain Utopia

Quote from: Telarus on June 21, 2010, 10:12:49 PM
http://frank.itlab.us/forgetting/

Read the "Curve of Forgetting" section lower on the page.

Huh... I interpret that as: "How to learn despite the tendency to forget almost everything"

Telarus

That's the point. Do you really want to remember every cough and chair squeek from the lecture 3 weeks ago when you're taking the mid-term and mentally scanning back for the specific name of Mediterranean 'Orientalizing-Era' female sculptures with stiff poses, and stylized, highly patterned hair?
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

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NotPublished

I don't think forgetting helps with learning

I think when your uncomfortable, you know you are learning something (until you can make it comfortable)
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