Consolidation of memory involves forming a permanent long-term memory. Memory is formed through a process of encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is the first part of forming a solid long-term memory.
If a memory is not available to a person, then it wasn’t encoded or stored properly. It will not be available at all; consolidation has been interrupted.
If a memory is not accessible, on the other hand, it can still be available. A person can still have the information consolidated in their long-term memory, but there is a problem with actually retrieving that memory.
One of the reasons that someone can have trouble retrieving a memory is that there is some interference. Interference refers to when new and old memories compete with each other and make it difficult for you to remember certain bits of information.
There are two different types of interference:
EXAMPLE
You can't remember a new phone number that you've just learned because it's too similar to your old childhood phone number.EXAMPLE
You may have trouble remembering the name of someone you met at a party last weekend because you just met a brand new group of people at a party that you're at now.While interference is a way that a person can unintentionally affect the retrieval of memories, memories can also be intentionally forgotten, either consciously or unconsciously. This is a mechanism by which a person protects themselves from psychological harm. This may be especially true for memories that are unpleasant or uncomfortable for a person.
Suppression is a way that a person intentionally and consciously attempts to forget a memory that they have.
EXAMPLE
A family member brings up something that makes you angry while you're in public. You can intentionally choose to either ignore or forget that memory to avoid a scene. This allows you to revisit the situation later at a more appropriate time.Repression, on the other hand, is unconsciously forgetting some unpleasant memory.
EXAMPLE
Emergency room surgeons can repress particularly bad memories of things that they saw while working, like horrific accidents or traumatic incidents that they might have encountered on the job.It's important to note that repression can lead to all kinds of harmful psychological effects on its own, according to psychodynamic theories. While repression might be necessary in certain instances, it can also lead to negative effects in its own right.
Source: This work is adapted from Sophia author Erick Taggart.