MULTIRATE FORGETTING

Studied the possibility that different types of information are lost from a memory trace at different rates. A model is presented that provides a mathematical specification of the transmutations among different types of trace that occur with increasing delay. The probabilities of occurrence of most types of trace are predicted to depend on delay not in a simple exponential manner but as the sums (or differences) of exponentials. The predictions of this mutirate model were in quantitative agreement with the results of 2 experiments, each with 30 Ss, in which the retention of pictures and of sentences was assessed at 3 different delays by the method of cued recall. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.