Cues Flashcards
another theory of memory suggests that being able to recall a piece of information depends on having the right…
cues
in this theory, forgetting is treated as…
a retrieval failure
the information still exists in memory but it isn’t
accessable
we have more chance of retrieving the memory if the cue is
appropiate
the cue has to be appropriate because it could be
internal or external
internal
mood
external
context
we are more likely to remember if we are in the same
context/mood as we were when we coded the information origionally
being in the same context to remember something is known as
cue-dependant learning
Study
Tulving and Psotka (1971)
Study date
1971
Method: Tulving and Psotka compared the theories of
interference and cue-dependant forgetting
Method: each participant was given either
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 lists of 24 words
Method: each list was divided into…
6 categories of 4 words
Method: words were presented in…
category order
Method: Condition 1
participants had to simply recall the words
Method: Condition 1 name
total free recall
Method: Condition 2
participants were given the categories and had to recall all the words from that category
Method: Condition 2 name
free cued recall
Results: total free recall
evidence of retroactive interference
Results: 1/2 lists
had the highest amounts of recall
Results: total cued recall
the effects of retroactive interference disappeared
Results: Retroactive disappeared
it didn’t matter how many lists the participants had, recall stayed the same at 70%
Conclusion: the results suggested that…
interference does not cause forgetting
Conclusion: because the memories became accessible if a cue was used…
it showed that they were available, but just inaccessible
Conclusion: the forgetting shown in the total recall condition was
cue-dependant forgetting
Evaluation: the study was a laboratory study meaning…
it was highly controlled
Evaluation: because the study was conducted in a laboratory…
it reduced the effect of extraneous variables
Evaluation: laboratory effects lack…
ecological validity
Evaluation: the setting and tasks are…
artificial
Evaluation: the results can’t be…
generalised
Evaluation: Why can’t the results be generalised?
the study only tested memory of words
cue-dependant forgetting is the…
best explanation for forgetting in long term memory
why is cue-dependent forgetting the best explanation for forgetting?
it has the strongest evidence
most forgetting can be caused by…
retrieval failure
this means that virtually all memories are available in…
long term memory
we just need the right ___ to access it
cues
the evidence is
artificial
lacks meaning in…
the real world
it would be difficult, if not impossible, to test whether all information in LTM is
accessible and available and just waiting for the right cue
the theory might not explain
all types of memory
for example, cues might not be relevant to
procedural memory
