Explanations for forgetting: retrieval failure Flashcards
What is retrieval failure?
Occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory.
What is a cue?
A trigger of information that allows us to access a memory.
What did Tulving find?
Encoding specificity principle
consistent pattern
What is the encoding specificity principle?
A cue has to be both present at encoding and present at retrieval.
If cues available at encoding and retrieval are different this leads to some forgetting.
What is encoding?
When we learn info
What is retrieval?
When we recall info
What is an example of a cue?
Mnemonic techniques
What is context dependent forgetting?
Recall depends on external cue
What is state dependent forgetting?
Recall depends on internal cue
What is research for context dependent forgetting?
Godden and Baddely
Deep sea divers
See if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater.
Divers learned list of words
Underwater or on land
Recall words either underwater or on land.
Created four conditions
Learn on land - recall on land
Learn on land - recall underwater
Learn underwater - recall on land
Learn underwater - recall underwater
What were the findings of Godden and Baddeleys study on context dependent forgetting?
In 2 of these conditions the environmental contexts of learning and recall matched.
Other two did not
Accurate recall was 40% lower in non matching conditions.
External cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure.
What is research for state dependent forgetting?
Carter and Cassaday
Gave antihistamine drugs to participants
Had mild sedative effect making slightly drowsy
Creating internal physiological state different from normal state of being awake and alert.
Learn a list of words and passaged of prose
Recall info
Four conditions
Learn on drug - recall when on drug
Learn on drug - recall when not on drug
Learn not on drug - recall when on drug
Learn not on drug - recall when not on drug
What were Carter and Cassadays findings on study of state dependent forgetting?
In conditions where mismatch between internal state at learning and recall
Performance on memory test significantly worse.
When cues are absent then there is more forgetting
What is an evaluation for retrieval failure?
Real world application
Retrieval cues can help to overcome forgetting in everyday situations
Baddelleey
Although cues dont have very strong effect on forgetting it is still worth paying attention to.
When we have trouble rememebering something it is worth making effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first.
Showing how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall.
What is an evaluation for retrieval failure?
Reserach support
Eysenck and Keane
Retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM
Lots of evidence shows retrieval failure occurs in real world situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab.
What is an evaluation for retrieval failure?
Counterpoint for research support
Baddeley
Context effects are actually not very strong, especially in everyday life.
Different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen
Meaning that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting.
What is an evaluation for retrieval failure?
Recall vs recognition
Context effects may depend substantially on type if memory being tested
Godden and Baddeley
Replicated underwater experiment
Recognition test instead of recall
Had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it for themselves.
Recognition tested - no context dependent effect, performance was the same in all conditions
Suggesting retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting
Only applied when a person has to recall information rather than recognise it.
