explanations for forgetting Flashcards
what is interference
when the recall of one memory blocks the recall of another, causing forgetting or
distorted perceptions of these memories
what are the two types of interference
proactive
retroactive
what memory does interference occur in
stm and ltm
what is proactive interference
old info interfering with the retrieval of new info
what is retroactive interference
new info interferes with the retrieval of old info
who carried out research on retroactive interference
muller pilzeker
what was the study
asked pp to learn a list of nonsense syllables for 6 mins and during this some were asked to describe a landscape. those who did intervening tasks had a poorer performance
who studied proactive interference
underwood
what was the study
asked pp to memoirise 10+ lists and after 48 hours they remembered approx. 69% who had 1 list remembered and 25% with 4 remembered
suggests previously learnt info moves forward and interferes with the recall of new info
what 2 factors make interference more likely
similarity- when 2 pieces of info are similar so it creates response comp meaning both sets of info are there but its hard to choose between them
time sensitivity- interference less likely to occur when there’s a large gap of when learnt between the 2 pieces of info
what are the 2 types of explanations
context dependent
state dependent
who investigated context dependent
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
what did they do/ find
4 diff conditions- under water and on land learning
found recall was better when recalled in same environment they learnt in
with out the right context for retrieval, forgetting is more likely
who investigated state dependent
Goodwin et al (1969)
what did he do/ find
4 conditions- sober and drunk learning
allowed 24h to pass between learning and recall
found recall was better when recalled in same state they learnt in
this suggests info learnt in a particular mental state is more easily accessed in the same state after
what is a type of cue dependent forgetting
categorial/ organizational dependent cue
what does this mean
providing cues that relate to the organization/ category of memories may aid recall such as a teacher giving you a cue in class to help answer a qu like attachment-> bowlby
who investigated this
Tulving and Pealstone (1966)
what did they do/ find
asked pp to recall 48 words either using free recall or a 12 4 method
found that pp recalled significantly more in the category condition
suggest cues act as cues and aid recall
what are 2 advantages of this (eval) for interference (1 study,
interference occurs in real-life situations (Baddeley & Hitch, 1977)
Rugby players were asked to recall names of teams they had played against over one season
Players who had played in the most games had the worst recall
found that the later, more recent games had interfered with recall of the earlier games
concluded that interference had occurred to prevent accurate recall
The use of real players recalling real games gives this study good ecological validity
research into how forgetting works has real life implications such as education- teachers can implement more successful revision strategies such as retrieval practice, which involves actively recalling information during study sessions- research indicates that this method strengthens memory and improves the ability to retrieve information in the future
what is a disadvantage of this (eval) for intereference and cue abscence
much of the evidence comes from artificial settings asking pp to do tasks they’d never have to do in real life meaning they lack mundane realism. external validity may also be low as interference may not occur at the same extent in more real life settings lowering confidence in explanation
disadv of interference theory
cant be fully generalised- Kane and Eagle (2000) found that those with a greater working memory are less susceptible to the effects of proactive interference than those with a smaller working memory span showing interference doesnt affect everyone equally- depends on their cognitive abilities so how useful are the findings to everyday person? nomothetic approach rather than holisitic
advantage of cues
research has helped the cognitive interview (Fisher and Geiselman)- the stage of context reinstatement should get them to recreate the environment which the incident took place in as
they’re more likely to access their memories this way due to contextual clues. effective as reduces the likelihood of valuable details being forgotten due to a lack of appropriate retrieval cues.
The Cognitive Interview technique uses context reinstatement, which helps witnesses recall more accurate details by mentally recreating the scene.
Encouraging students to use retrieval cues (e.g., mnemonics, mind maps, or studying in the same environment as the exam) to improve memory recall- this can help the performance of students given exam settings as they’re able to recall information due to cues
disadvantage of cues
Recognition vs. Recall: Research indicates that the absence of cues affects recall tasks more than recognition tasks. For example, Godden and Baddeley (1980) found that context-dependent effects were prominent in recall but not in recognition tests, implying that cue-dependent forgetting may not apply uniformly across different memory retrieval scenarios- reduces confidence in theory as data cannot fully give answers as it doesn’t cover all areas of forgetting just recalling information.
