Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Forgetting01:21

Forgetting

Forgetting is an intrinsic aspect of human memory, characterized by the gradual loss or inaccessibility of information over time. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, extensively studied this phenomenon and formulated the forgetting curve. This curve illustrates that memory loss occurs rapidly immediately after learning and then decelerates over time. Several mechanisms contribute to forgetting, including encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, and interference.
Encoding...
Interference and Decay01:16

Interference and Decay

Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Creative Thinking01:25

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking encompasses innovative and unconventional methods for addressing challenges, often leading to groundbreaking solutions. Instead of focusing solely on enhancing existing systems, such as increasing smartphone battery capacity, creative thinking might inspire advancements like energy-efficient batteries or processors that minimize power consumption. This multidimensional approach underscores the importance of exploring novel pathways to innovation.
Divergent thinking is the...
Working Memory01:24

Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this information.
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Offloading reduces prospective memory learning.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same author

A Special Issue Introduction: Educational Applications of Cognitive Psychology.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Online searching can lead to internet fixation without reducing metacognitive confidence.

Cognition·2025
Same author

Working memory capacity and the saving-enhanced memory effect.

Memory (Hove, England)·2025
Same author

Examining the Potential Benefits of Affirming Values on Memory for Educational Information.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

Sorry, Am I Intruding? Comparing Performance and Intrusion Rates for Pretested and Posttested Information.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same journal

Testing the predictions of a distinctiveness model of memory: The production effect in backward recall.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

On the impact of adjacency on transposed-word effects under serial presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

It's time to opt out: Metacognitive analysis of time regulation under uncertainty.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

The role of statistical learning in attentional guidance during search through naturalistic scenes.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Representing objects and features in long-term memory: A case for direct feature-feature binding.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Crossmodal correspondences influence adaptation during rule-based category learning of objects.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Memory Enhancement
10:37

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Memory Enhancement

Published on: September 18, 2021

Thinking can cause forgetting: memory dynamics in creative problem solving.

Benjamin C Storm1, Genna Angello, Elizabeth Ligon Bjork

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street (MC 285), Chicago, IL 60607-7137, USA. bstorm@uic.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|June 29, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Retrieving information can make related memories harder to recall. This study shows that attempting creative problem-solving also causes forgetting of related ideas, aiding innovation.

More Related Videos

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
10:26

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents
09:01

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents

Published on: July 8, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 31, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Memory Enhancement
10:37

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Memory Enhancement

Published on: September 18, 2021

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
10:26

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents
09:01

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents

Published on: July 8, 2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Memory Research
  • Creativity Studies

Background:

  • Retrieval-induced forgetting demonstrates that recalling specific information can impair memory for related items.
  • Creative problem-solving often involves overcoming cognitive fixation on initial ideas.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if retrieval-induced forgetting occurs in creative problem-solving.
  • To determine the relationship between problem-solving attempts and forgetting of related concepts.

Main Methods:

  • The Remote Associates Test (RAT) was used to cue participants to find a common associate for three words.
  • Participants' recall of other strong associates to the cue words was measured after problem-solving attempts.
  • The duration of problem-solving attempts and success rates on separate RAT problems were recorded.

Main Results:

  • Attempting to solve creative problems led to forgetting of related associates, even without a successful solution.
  • The magnitude of this problem-solving-induced forgetting increased with longer problem-solving times.
  • Problem-solving-induced forgetting was positively correlated with success on subsequent creative problems.

Conclusions:

  • Forgetting plays a crucial role in overcoming fixation during creative problem-solving.
  • The process of attempting creative solutions actively modifies memory, facilitating novel idea generation.
  • This research extends the understanding of memory dynamics beyond simple recall to creative cognitive processes.