ABSTRACT
Why does forgetting occur? One explanation is that memories decay. Decay corresponds to a commonsense intuition that memories spontaneously fade over time. As obvious as the idea sounds, a fundamental problem with this theory is its suggestion that the passage of time alone somehow “explains” forgetting. McGeoch (1932) offered the analogy that iron rusts over time, yet time is not the cause of rust. Similarly, time alone does not account for forgetting, but something that happens during that time.
