Lost, then found: transient forgetting in humans and machines

Forgetting can be permanent or transient. An intriguing, recently described form of transient forgetting (TF) in artificial neural networks is the stability gap: a network that has already learned a first task exhibits transient yet substantial forgetting when it begins additional training on a second task alongside the first. Could an analogous phenomenon be found in humans? Following a literature survey, six types of TF in humans were identified, categorised by their sources: learning, retrieval, spontaneous, overgeneralisation, task-switching, and multitasking. Although all differ in important ways from the stability gap, it is hypothesised that some underlying mechanisms are shared. This opinion article concludes by proposing experiments to test whether a 'stability gap-like' form of TF also occurs in humans.