Explainaitons for forgetting: Retrieval failure Flashcards
What is retrieval failure?
This is where info is available but cannot be recalled because of the absence of appropriate cues.
What is a cue?
Something linked to a memory that triggers recall by enabling us to access that memory.
What are the types of cues?
External cues: Context- explicit cues
- environmental
Internal cues: State (psychological or physiological state)
What are explicit cues?
Linked to learning material (e.g category name). Can act as a contextual cue.
What is environmental cue/ context?
where you were when you were learning the info.
What is a state cue?
How you felt when you were learning the material.
What is context dependent forgetting?
Individuals fail to recall something because they are not in the same context at retrieval as they were when the info was learned e.g the same room.
Why is context helpful to improve recall?
Research has suggested that being in the same context or even imagining the context at recall can improve recall.
Evidence suggests that students may perform better in exams if tested in the classroom instead of an exam hall.
What is state dependent forgetting?
Evidence suggests that internal environment (mood) can have an impact on retrieval.
Being in a different emotional state at encoding & retrieval may result in retrieval failure.
Explain the encoding specificity principle (ESP).
Proposed by Tulving and Thompson (1973).
Used to explain why forgetting occurs in the absence of appropriate cues.
ESP- memories are encoded with links to other info present at the time (context).
This info can act as a retrieval cue aiding recall.
A poor match between info present at the time of encoding and the time of retrieval can result in forgetting.
