Encoding Failure is a term that refers to the brain’s occasional failure to create a memory link. According to the University of Cambridge, there exist 7 types of memory failure but here’s 2:
Repressive Erasure: This is when something is purposely erased. It was most commonly seen in the efforts of totalitarian regimes to “erase” the memory of people or things deemed ‘enemies of the state’. This was done by destroying artifacts, omitting references in writing, and forbidding any kind of information transmission on the banned thing. More subtly today, a group called the Futurists in Italy wanted to remove almost all of the museums in Italy. They wanted this because they felt like it was embodying a cult of the past that obfuscated appreciation for the present. To aestheticize the past meant opposing aestheticization of the everyday — airplanes, cars, technological advancements.
Prescriptive Forgetting: This type of forgetting is used when it is in “the best interest of all parties”. The Ancient Greeks utilized this when they were coming off of a civil war; they made it forbidden to remember all the crimes and wrongdoing perpetrated during the civil strife
Personal Application:
As a Christian, the idea of “forgetting” is a very common motif. In the Bible, it says the God forgets our sins that and that we in turn are supposed to forget the sins of others. In terms of what I mentioned earlier, this most directly correlates with “prescriptive forgetting”. The forgetting of sins is most salutary to both parties because there is no burden to be carried by the transgressor. I think Prescriptive Forgetting is very hard though because as humans we tend to hold grduges, but I think over the long term it’s so benefical.
As crazy as it sounds, I can see how ideas such as “repressive erasure” and “prescriptive forgetting” could work. While it would be impossible to stop anyone from rehearsing information in their head, especially if the information had already been encoded into LTM, restricting exposure to the information could possibly prevent anyone retrieving and remembering the information. This all reminds me of those “deep memories” we totally forget about until someone reminds us and we get that AHA moment.
This is an interesting post; I didn’t know about either of these types of encoding failures. It is a very interesting idea regarding these. I have thought about repressive erasure without knowing what it was. But, the prescriptive forgetting is also very interesting. But, your personal application of this was very interesting. I never saw that insight into Christianity before. All of these parts are very interesting because they raise the question, “is it possible to truly forget consciously?” It is interesting because they will still be able to remember unless something interferes with this retrieval.