Unustamist

Unustamist is an Estonian noun meaning the act or process of forgetting. It is formed from the verb unustama (to forget) with a suffix that yields an abstract noun, and is used to refer to forgetting as a general phenomenon or to the act of forgetting a memory, fact, or task. In dictionaries it is described as the nominalized form of unustama.

In psychological terms, forgetting refers to the loss or inaccessibility of previously encoded information. It can arise from decay over time, interference from other memories, retrieval failures, or motivated forgetting. The forgetting curve, associated with early research by Hermann Ebbinghaus, illustrates how memory retention tends to decline without rehearsal or retrieval. Forgetting is considered a normal aspect of cognition, influenced by factors such as attention, encoding quality, context, and rehearsal.

In use, unustamist can appear in both everyday speech and more formal discussions of memory. It covers ordinary instances of forgetting things like keys or appointments, as well as discussions of memory decline due to aging, brain injury, or neurological conditions. Ethically and culturally, forgetting intersects with issues of accountability, historical memory, and collective identity, where societies may choose to remember or forget certain events.

See also: memory, forgetting, amnesia, memory decay, forgetting curve.