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Should we forget forgetting?

Connecticut College, USA, jasin{at}conncoll.edu

Martin A. Conway

University of Leeds, UK, M.A.Conway{at}leeds.ac.uk

Paul Connerton's inquiry in Memory Studies into the seven types of forgetting highlights forgetting as an active rather than passive process in both individual and larger cultural memory. The present article suggests that `forgetting' may be re-interpreted as a problem of relative accessibility from a larger store of available memory. Seen in this light, emotion, meaning and goal relevance are likely to affect a given memory's personal or cultural accessibility. Each of the seven types of forgetting is re-evaluated with these three critical factors' role in memory accessibility given greater attention and prominence.

Key Words: accessibility • availability • emotion • self

Memory Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3, 279-285 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1750698008093793


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