A fundamental challenge in developing general learning algorithms is their tendency to forget past knowledge when adapting to new data. Addressing this problem requires a principled understanding of forgetting; yet, despite decades of study, no unified definition has emerged that provides insights into the underlying dynamics of learning. We propose an algorithm- and task-agnostic theory that characterises forgetting as a lack of self-consistency in a learner's predictive distribution over future experiences, manifesting as a loss of predictive information. Our theory naturally yields a general measure of an algorithm's propensity to forget and shows that Bayesian learners are capable of adapting without forgetting. To validate the theory, we design a comprehensive set of experiments that span classification, regression, generative modelling, and reinforcement learning. We empirically demonstrate how forgetting is present across all deep learning settings and plays a significant role in determining learning efficiency. Together, these results establish a principled understanding of forgetting and lay the foundation for analysing and improving the information retention capabilities of general learning algorithms.
