If these strengths fall below a certain threshold, we can't recall the information, but the remaining memory trace is still there to facilitate relearning. Decrease in long-term potentiation follows a similar power law. These facts are interpreted by some as evidence for a physiologically determined decay rate. Everyone is tested on A-B associations. These results are interpreted as evidence that learning new associations to stimuli causes forgetting of old associations.
Stimulus activates concept nodes.
Time to identify the response is inversely related to level of activation. Some claim that interference can produce the appearance of decay. Retrieval and Inference Well established that people make inferences during retrieval, and believe that they saw or heard things that they in fact did not. Effect of Implications People are more likely to erroneously think they read a sentence if it is an implication of something they read. Effect of Prior Knowledge People add other knowledge they have about the material studied.