Skip to main content

Cognitive psychology of human memory (thesaurus)

Search from vocabulary

align
annotate
download

Concept information

information entity > mathematical function > power function

Preferred term

power function  

Definition

  • A mathematical function that describes the evolution of forgetting over time, especially the fact that forgetting is rapid after learning and slows down as time passes. It takes the form Y = at⁻ᵇ in which y is the memory performance, t is the elapsed time, b is the forgetting rate and a is a scaling parameter.

Broader concept

Related concepts

Entry terms

  • power law

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Anderson, J. R., & Schooler, L. J. (1991). Reflections of the environment in memory. Psychological Science, 2(6), 396–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00174.x

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Rubin, D. C., & Wenzel, A. E. (1996). One hundred years of forgetting: A quantitative description of retention. Psychological Review, 103(4), 734–760. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.4.734

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Wickelgren, W. A. (1974). Single-trace fragility theory of memory dynamics. Memory & Cognition, 2(4), 775–780. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198154

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: open]
  • • Wixted, J. T., & Carpenter, S. K. (2007). The Wickelgren power law and the Ebbinghaus savings function. Psychological Science, 18(2), 133–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01862.x

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Wixted, J. T., & Ebbesen, E. B. (1991). On the form of forgetting. Psychological Science, 2(6), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00175.x

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Wixted, J. T., & Ebbesen, E. B. (1997). Genuine power curves in forgetting: A quantitative analysis of individual subject forgetting functions. Memory & Cognition, 25(5), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211316

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: open]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-KF6VNW4H-5

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD Created 8/11/21, last modified 3/15/23