The diverse nature of forgetting across a representational hierarchy

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Forgetting is fundamental part of life. In an educational setting we often try to minimise forgetting by promoting long-term retention of information. Forgetting is typically assumed to be a unitary process, however research suggests that forgetting can follow distinct forgetting curves and can be caused by different mechanisms. Critically, forgetting might differ quantitatively and qualitatively dependent on the type of mental representation formed during learning. Understanding when and how specific types of information are forgotten is critical to boosting retention in an educational setting. For example, if we know when specific information is likely to be forgotten we can introduce repetition or rehearsal at the appropriate time to maximally boost retention. We have recently proposed a novel theoretical framework that makes predictions about the rate and form of forgetting at distinct levels in a representational hierarchy. Critically, this framework makes two key predictions: (1) forgetting changes qualitatively and quantitatively dependent on the representation formed at encoding, and (2) higher levels in the representational hierarchy can support the retention of representations at lower levels in the hierarchy. We will test the predictions of this framework using experimental psychology and statistical modelling. We will then use this theoretical insight to test whether we can boost retention of newly learnt information that is educationally relevant. In particular, we will test whether retention of educationally relevant information is boosted when learnt within a higher-order narrative. The potential benefit of learning in narratives will further be tested in combination with known cognitive techniques that boost retention - retrieval practice and spaced learning. The proposed research will provide fundamental insight into the psychology of forgetting and lay the theoretical groundwork for designing novel tools for boosting retention of educationally relevant material.