Retrieval Failure AO3

Question 1

✅What is a strength of retrieval failure in terms of face validity?

Answer 1

Retrieval failure has face validity because people commonly forget information when the environment changes. This is used in cognitive interviews.

Question 2

✅How has retrieval failure been applied to real-life scenarios?

Answer 2

It was used by police to create reconstructions of unsolved crimes, such as helping catch Danielle Jones’ murderer in 2001 by jogging witness memory.

Question 3

❌ Why is the research supporting retrieval failure criticized for lacking mundane realism?

Answer 3

Many studies use artificial tasks, such as recalling word lists (e.g., Godden and Baddeley, 1975), which do not reflect real-life memory tasks.

Question 4

❌ What is a criticism regarding the strength of context effects in retrieval failure?

Answer 4

Context effects are weak in real life unless contexts are extremely different (e.g., underwater vs. on land), making retrieval failure less applicable to everyday forgetting.