Does forgetting aid learning?

[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]

First it is a mountain, then it isn't a mountain, then it is a mountain again.   

[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.

[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.

[Triple Zero]

Does forgetting aid learning?

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

[Captain Utopia]

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

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? 

[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.

[Captain Utopia]

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?

[The Johnny]

Or does AIDS forget learning 

[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)