Memory: Forgetting

Question 1

What are the two main explanations for forgetting?

Answer 1

Interference
Retrieval failure

Question 2

What is meant by interference?

Answer 2

Interference is forgetting because one memory gets in the way of another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

Question 3

What type of memory does forgetting due to interference mostly affect and why?

Answer 3

LTM - once info has reached LTM, it is more-or-less permanent. So any forgetting of long term memories is likely because they are being disrupted by other memories, which makes it harder for us to locate them.

Question 4

Outline the two types of interference

Answer 4

Proactive interference - when older memories disrupt the recall of newer memories

Retroactive interference - when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories

Question 5

When is forgetting due to interference the worst?

Answer 5

When the memories are similar

Question 6

Who conducted research into the effects of similarity on interference? What was the procedure and findings?

Answer 6

McGeoch + McDonald

Procedure:
- McGeoch + McDonald studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of material
- P.s had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them 100% correctly
- They then had to learn a new list
- The P.s were split into 6 groups and each of the groups had a different new list to learn, of varying similarities to the original list

Findings:
- When asked to recall the original list of words after having learnt the new list, the most similar material produced the worst recall

This shows that interference is has the strongest effect when the memories are similar

Question 7

What is a strength of interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 7

1. There is evidence of the effects of interference in everyday situations
   - Baddeley + Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a rugby season
   - All players were asked to recall from the same time period however the number of games each player played across the season varied as some players missed matches due to injuries etc
   - The players who played the most games (and therefore had the most chances of interference) had the poorest recall
   - > This shows that interference can cause forgetting in real world situations, increasing the external validity of the theory
2. Could also used research into effects of similarity by McGeoch and McDonald as a strength!! (better for 8 markers as less to write about in A01)

Question 8

What are the limitations of interference as an explanation for forgetting?

Answer 8

1. Interference does not happen very often in everyday situations as the conditions necessary for interference to occur are relatively rare
   - Two memories have to be very similar for interference to happen
   - This level of similarity can only truly be achieved in lab studies, where the high level of control can allow researchers to create ideal conditions for interference
   - Real life memories are often not similar enough for forgetting to have been caused by interference
   -> This means that most cases of forgetting may be better explained by other theories such as retrieval failure due to lack of cues
2. Studies supporting interference as an explanation for forgetting have methodological issues
   - Most studies use artificial stimulus, such as learning lists of random words which hold no meaning to the p.s
   - In real life, people are unlikely to learn info that is meaningless to them and more likely to learn info which does hold meaning to them, which also makes that info easier to remember
   - This means these studies lack mundane realism and there are also other factors which influence how likely we are to forget things
   - Furthermore, most interference studies are conducted in very short spaces of time, with p.s recalling the words only 1-2 hrs after learning them
   - This does not accurately reflect real life situations, where it is often the case that info doesn’t need to be recalled until days later, such as in an exam
   - This suggests that interference may not be a valid explanation for forgetting long term memories
3. There is evidence to suggest that interference is temporary and can be overcome by using cues
   - Tulving and Psotka gave P.s lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time
   - Recall averaged around 70% for the first list, but became progressively worse as p.s learned each additional list
   - At the end of the procedure, p.s were given cues to help them to remember the lists, like the names of the categories
   - Recall rose back up to around 70%
   -> This shows that interference only causes us to temporarily forget info that is still available to us, which was not predicted by the theory

Question 9

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 9

Retrieval failure is a form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access a memory. The memory is available to us but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided

Question 10

How does the absence of cues lead to forgetting?

Answer 10

When info is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time. If these cues are unavailable at the time of recall, it makes it more difficult to access the memory

Question 11

Who proposed the ‘encoding specificity principle’ and what does it state?

Answer 11

Tulving summarised a pattern he had found when researching retrieval failure in what he called the ‘encoding specificity principle’ which states that for a cue to be helpful, it needs to be present at encoding and at retrieval, otherwise info will be forgotten

Question 12

What is an example of a meaningful cue?

Answer 12

Mnemonics

Question 13

What are the two types of non-meaningful cues?

Answer 13

Context dependent forgetting - this is where there is a lack of external cues - context for learning and recall is different (eg weather or a place)

State dependent forgetting - this is where there is a lack of internal cues - internal state for learning and recall is different (eg feeling upset, being drunk)

Question 14

Who conducted research on context dependent forgetting? Outline the procedure and findings

Answer 14

Godden and Baddeley studies deep-sea divers to see if training onland affected their work underwater

Procedure
- The divers learned a list of words either on land or underwater
- The divers then had to recall the words either on land or underwater
- This created 4 different conditions: 2 where the contexts for learning and recall matched, and 2 where they didn’t

Findings
- Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions - this was because the external cues available at learning were different to the ones available at recall, which led to retrieval failure

Question 15

Who conducted research on state dependent forgetting? Outline the procedure and findings

Answer 15

Carter and Cassaday

Procedure
- Researchers gave antihistamine drugs to the p.s - these have a mild sedative effect, making the p.s feel slightly drowsy and creating a different internal state from the ‘normal’ state of feeling awake and alert
- The p.s then had to learn a list of words and passages either on the drug or not and then recall them either on the drug or not, creating 4 conditions

Findings
- In the conditions where the internal states at learning and at recall did not match, performance of a memory test was significantly worse

Question 16

What is a strength of retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting?

Answer 16

There is lots of research to support the retrieval failure theory
- eg studies by Godden + Baddeley and Carter + Cassaday
- Both studies show that a lack of helpful cues at recall can lead to context dependent and state dependent forgetting
-> This evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in both real world situations and in highly controlled lab conditions

Question 17

What are the limitations of retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting?

Answer 17

1. Retrieval failure doesn’t happen very often in everyday situations, as the contexts need to be very different in order for the effects of there being a lack of cues to be strong
   - In Godden + Baddeley’s study, being underwater is entirely different to being on land so context-dependent forgetting is more likely
   - This kind of extreme difference in external cues does not happen often in real life - for example learning something in one room and then recalling it in another is unlikely to cause context-dependent forgetting as these environments are not different enough
   -> This means that retrieval failure due to a lack of external cues does not explain much in everyday forgetting
2. The effects of their being external cues may depend on the type of memory being tested
   - Godden + Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but, this time, used a recognition test instead of recall
   - P.s had to say whether they recognised a word from a list rather than having to retrieve it themselves
   - This time, the p.s performance was the same in all 4 conditions, so there was no context dependent effect
   -> This suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting as it only applies to when a person has to recall info rather than just recognise it

Question 18

What is a cue?

Answer 18

A ‘trigger’ of info that allows us to access a memory. Cues may either be meaningful or be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning