Free recall of event frequency: A translation of the forgetting function

Teachers often collect frequency data on student behavior, but teaching responsibilities may delay recording, and it is unclear how delay affects accuracy of this report. The forgetting function describes changes in accuracy of reporting as a function of delay since an event was observed, and it has been well studied for humans and non-human animals. The forgetting function was applied to study the effects of delay on event frequency recall for adults during baseline and reinforcement for accuracy. Results were visually and quantitatively evaluated for systematic effects of delay and condition on performance. The forgetting function described aggregated results well, supporting the functional relation between delay and accuracy of event frequency recall. Reinforcement increased intercept and decreased slope. Results show the forgetting function can be used to describe event frequency recall (modelling classroom data collection), and support the development of a basic line of research to inform applied data collection practices.