Type Of Forgetting Retrieval Failure

Question 1

what is forgetting?

Answer 1

it refers to a person’s loss of ability to recall information & stored memories
-it can happen in STM or LTM

Question 2

what is interference?

Answer 2

when one memory disturbs the ability to recall another.

Question 3

which 2 sections is interference divided into?

Answer 3

-proactive interference (PI)
-retroactive interference (RI)

Question 4

when does proactive interference occur?

Answer 4

when an older memory interferes with a newer memory (eg- remembering your old neighbour’s name, but not the new one)

Question 5

when does retroactive interference occur?

Answer 5

when a newer memory prevents the recall of an older memory (eg- forgetting the names of old neighbours but remembering the names of the new ones)

Question 6

what are the 2 strengths of interference theory?

Answer 6

-interference can occur in real life situations (refer to baddely & hitch research)
-interference can explain why it is more difficult to learn a new language

Question 7

why is it more difficult to lean another language?

Answer 7

a previous language may interfere with trying to learn another language, which gives the theory good external validity.

Question 8

what was baddely & hitch’s (1977) research into interference?

Answer 8

-rugby players were asked to recall the names of teams they had played against over one season
-they found than players who had played in the most games had the worst recall, thus more recent games had interfered with the recall of earlier games, so concluded than interference had occurred.
-the use of real names & players gives this study very good ecological validity.

Question 9

what are the 2 limitations of the interference theory?

Answer 9

-it can be temporary, using hints/cues can help with remembering previously forgotten info (tulving & psotka, 1971)
-much of the research used for studying interference is lab-based, using artificial tasks (like recalling trigrams), which gives all research low ecological validity.

Question 10

what is a cue?

Answer 10

a hint/trigger than can help to retrieve a memory

Question 11

what 2 things can cues be?

Answer 11

-meaningful
-indirect (can be external, linked to the environment/surroundings, or internal, linked or mood/emotions)

Question 12

when is a cue placed in the memory store?

Answer 12

placed in the memory store?
at the same time the information is to be remembered

Question 13

when does retrieval failure occur?

Answer 13

-if there aren’t enough cues a person may forget certain memories
-the memory is still available, but not accessible due to the absence of cues

Question 14

what did tulving propose about cues?

Answer 14

tulving (1983) proposed that if a cue is to be helpful in remembering information, then it must be:
-present during encoding
-present during retrieval
if the cue does not meet the criteria, then it may be forgotten.

Question 15

what happens to other cues encoded at the time of learning?

Answer 15

if they aren’t meaningful, they will be forgotten

Question 16

when does context-dependant forgetting occur?

Answer 16

when recall depends on an external cue (eg- environment/surroundings)

Question 17

who investigated the effect of contextual cues on deep-sea divers?

Answer 17

godden & baddely (1975)

Question 18

what was the aim of godden & baddely’s study?

Answer 18

to investigate whether memory was better for words learned & recalled in the same environment OR different environments (with contexts being land & water)

Question 19

what did godden & baddelys sample consist of?

Answer 19

18 participants (13 male & 5 female) from a university diving club

Question 20

godden & baddelys what was their method?

Answer 20

-they were asked to learn a set of words, either on land or underwater, then asked to recall these words either on land or in the water.
-there were four conditions of the IV

Question 21

godden & baddelys what were the 4 conditions of the IV?

Answer 21

-learning words on land/recalling on land
-learning words on land/recalling in water
-learning words in water/recalling on land
-learning words in water/recalling in water

Question 22

what did godden & baddely find?

Answer 22

the results showed that words learned underwater were better recalled underwater, and words learned on land were better recalled on land.
-this demonstrates that context is KEY for retrieval to happen, the flip side of which is that without the right context for retrieval, forgetting is more likely.

Question 23

when does state-dependant forgetting occur

Answer 23

when recall depends on an internal cue

Question 24

what is meant by ‘internal cue’?

Answer 24

-the feelings/emotions involved (feeling happy, sad angry or distressed etc)
-the physiological state of the person (feeling drunk etc)

Question 25

who researched context dependant forgetting?

Answer 25

goodwin et at (1969) investigated they effect of recall when participants were under the influence of alcohol or when they were sober (as alcohol is often used to induce certain emotions/feelings)

Question 26

how did goodwin et al. (1969) research this?

Answer 26

male participants learnt a set of words either drunk/sober, and were asked to recall these set of words 24hrs later when either drunk/sober

Question 27

what did goodwin et al (1969) find out?

Answer 27

that information learned when under the influence of alcohol was recalled better when the participant was under the influence of alcohol (so in the same state- drunk)

Question 28

who else performed research into context-dependant forgetting?

Answer 28

carter & cassaday (1998) performed a similar experiment involving antihistamine drugs which have a sedative effect.

Question 29

what did carter & cassaday (1998) find?

Answer 29

they found that recall of lists of words was higher when in the same state (learning on antihistamines & recalling words on antihistamines)

Question 30

what is the one strength cue-dependent forgetting?

Answer 30

there is good real-world application to the theory- -studying for exams should be conducted in the same room in which the exam is it take place to aid recall, which means the theory has good external validity.

Question 31

what are the 2 limitations of cue-dependent forgetting theory?

Answer 31

-baddely (1977) argued that the effect of context is not very strong in real-world situations -many of the studies involve artificial tasks, so lack ecological validity & real world application

Question 32

why is the effect of context not very strong in real-world situations//

Answer 32

-it would be very difficult to find extremely contrasting contexts (like land & water, from godden & baddely's 1975 experiment) in real life -this means that retrieval failure dye to a lack of contextual cues may not be a good model to explain forgetting.