explanations for forgetting Flashcards
what is the interference theory
forgetting takes place because of interference
occurs when two pieces of info disrupt each other resulting in forgetting one or both or in some distortion of memory
proposed as explanation for forgetting in ltm
once info reached ltm it is more or less permanent
any forgetting of ltm is because we cant access to them even though they are available
inteference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them and this is experienced as forgetting
what is types of interference
proactive interference- occurs when older memory interferes with newer one eg psychology teacher learned names in past difficult remembering names of current class
retroactive interference- occurs when newer memory interfers with older one- teacher learned new names this year she has difficulty remembering names of students last year
PORN
what is research on effects of similarity (interference)
pi and ri interference worse when memories smilar- mcgeoch and mcdonald
mcgeoch and mcdonald studied ri by changing amount of similarity between two sets of materials, pps had to learn list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy they then learned new list, six groups of pps who had to learn different types of new lists
group 1-synonyms
group 2-antonyms
group 3- words unrelated to original ones
group 4- consonant syllables
group 5- three difit numbers
group 6- no new lists (control condition)
when pps asked recall original list of words, synonyms had worst recall, shows that inerference strongest when memories similar
what is the explanation of effects of similarity (interference)
could be due to pi- previously stored info makes new simialr info more difficult to store
ri- new info overwrites previous similar memories because of similairty
what is real world interference (interference eval)
evidence of interference effects in everyday situations
baddeley and hitch- rugby players to recall names of teams they had played against during rugby season, all players played for same time interval but number of intervening games varied because some players missded matches due to injury, players who played the msot games had poorest recall- most interference for memory
study shows interference can operate in at least some real world situations increasing validity of theory
interference may cause some forgetting in everyday situations but unusual
conditions necessary for interference to occur are rare
unlike lab studies where high degree of control means researcher can create ideal conditions for interference
two memories have to be similar in order to interfere with each other
happen occassionally in everyday life but not often
suggests most forgetting better explained by other theories such as retriveal failure due to lack of cues
what is interference and cues (interference eval)
interference temp and can be overcome by using cues
tulving and psotka- gave pps list of words organised into categories, one list at a time, recall avg 70% for first list but became worse as pps learned additional list, pps given cued recall test, told names of categories, recall rose to 70%
shows interference causes temp loss of accessibility to material that is still in ltm- finding not predicted by interference theory
what is support from drug studies (interference eval)
evience of retrograde facilitation
coenen and van luijtelaar gave pps list of words and later asked them to recall list assuming intervening experiences would act as interference, when list of words was learned under influence of diazpeman recall one week later was poor, when list was learned before drug taken later recall was better than placebo, drug improved recall of material learned beforehand
wixtend- drug prevents new info reaching parts of brain involved in processing memories so it cant interfere retroactively with info already stored
finding shows forgetting can be due to interference reduce the interference and reduce forgetting
what is retrieval failure due to absence of cues
forget info due to insufficient cues
when info initially placed in memory associated cues are stored at same time
if cues not available at time of recall, may appear if forgotton info but due to retrieval failure not being able to access memories that are there
what is encoding specificity principle (retrieval failure)
tulving-reviweed research into retrieval failure and discovered consistent pattern to findings, encoding specificty principle-states that a cue must be present at encoding (when we learn material) and present at retrieval (when we recall it), if cues available at encoding and retriveal are different there will be some forgetting
some cues encoded at the time of learning in meaningful way
context dependent forgetting- recall depends of extneral cue
state dependent forgetting- recall depends of internal cue
what is the research on context dependent forgetting (retrieval failure)
godden and baddeleystudied deep sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater, divers learned list of words either udnerwater or on land and were asked to recall words either underwater or on land
learn on land- recall on land
learn on land- recall underwater
learn underwater- recall underwater
learn underwater- recall on land
in two of conditions environmental contexts of learning and recall matched and in the other two they didnt
accurate recall was 40% lower in the non matching conditions
concluded external cues available at learning were different from ones available at recall and led to retrieval dailure
what is research on state dependent forgetting (retrieval failure)
carter and cassaday-antihistamine drugs to pps, had mild sedative effect making pps slightly drowsy, creates internal physiological state different from normal state, pps had to learn lists of words and passages of prose and then recall info
learn on drug- recall when on drug
learn on drug- recall when not on drug
learn not on drug- recall when not on drug
learn not on drug- recall when on drug
there was mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on memory test worse
cues absent there is more forgetting
what is real world application (retrieval failure eval)
retrieval cues can help overcome some forgetting in everyday situations
cues may not have strong effect on forgetting, baddeley suggests they are worth paying attention to
being in one room and thinking to go get an item, go into other room and only forget what you went in for, moment you go back to first room you remember again
trouble remembering something, worth making eoffrt to recall environment in which learned it first
shows how research can remind strategies we use in real world to improve recall
what is research support (retrieval failure eval)
impressive range of research supports retrieval failure explanation
godden and baddeley and carter and cassaday-show that lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context dependent and state dependent forgetting in everyday life
eyesenk and keane- retrieval failure is main reason for forgetting
evidence shows retrieval failure occurs in real world situations as well as highly controlled conditions of lab
baddeley-context effects not strong
different contexts have to be very different before effect is seen
would be hard to find environment as different from land as underwater
learning something in one room and recalling it in another in unliekly to result in much forgetting because environemtns generally not different enough
means retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting
what is recall versus recognition
context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested
godden and baddeley replicated underwater experiment but used recognition test instead of recall, pps had to say whether they recognised word read to them from list instead of retriveing it for themselves, recognition wa tested, there was no context dependent effect performance was the same in all four conditions
suggests retreival failure limited epxlanation for fogretting because only applies when person has to recall info rather than recognise it
