Theories Of Forgetting: Retrieval Failire

Question 1

Retrieval failure

Answer 1

-When we fail to access memories that are still there.
-This may be due to a lack of cues associated with this memory/item.

Question 2

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 2

-The idea that if a cue is present at the time of encoding of an item, that same cue must be present at the time of retrieval. Hence if certain cues are not available at retrieval there will be some forgetting.
-Certain cues can be linked to the item in a meaningful way, I.e the acronym ‘stm’ may cause one to recall many ideas about short term memory.
-Devised by tulving in 1983.

Question 3

Context-dependent forgetting(Retrieval failure)

Answer 3

-Godden and Baddely(1975) studied deep sea divers working under water.
-Divers had to learn a list of words either underwater or on land and then recall these words either on land or underwater(4 conditions).
-They found in non matching conditions between learning and recalling, accuracy was 40% lower than the matching environment conditions.
-Known as context dependent forgetting (lack of external cues, I.e different environment)

Question 4

State dependent forgetting

Answer 4

-Carter and Cassaday(1998)
-4 conditions, learning on and off an anti histamine that provides a mild sedative effect and recalling on and off that same drug.
-Significantly worse memory performance when there was a difference in internal state.
-This is due to state dependent forgetting (a lack of Internal cues present at recall that were present at encoding).

Question 5

Supporting evidence (retrieval failure)

Answer 5

-Both ‘godden and Baddeley’ and ‘carter and cassaday’s work are pieces of research that support retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting.
-This is a strength as it gives scientific evidence for this idea, and the fact that some studies also weren’t completed in a lab also suggests that retrieval failure is a valid theory for forgetting.

Question 6

Recall Vs recognition (context dependent forgetting)

Answer 6

-Context effects may be related to the kind of memory being tested.
-Godden and Baddeley conducted a repeat of their divers study, but instead tested if the divers could recognise the words they learnt - not fully recall them.
-This variation gave no relationship between changes in conditions.
-This is a further limitation of context effects as the presence or absence of external cues may only effect memory when you test it in a certain way.

Question 7

Lack of practicality(AO3)(Contextual cues)

Answer 7

-Baddeley later argued that context effects aren’t very strong, especially in real life applications.
-Environments have to be drastically different for context to become a factor in retrieval.
-One may struggle recalling land information underwater but it is not that common to be underwater.
-In a more realistic context, like being in different rooms, the difference is not sufficient enough to create a difference in recall.
-This hence becomes a limitation as context dependent forgetting doesn’t actually explain that much forgetting in real life applications.