Explanations For Forgetting Flashcards
What are the two theories as to why we forget?
Interference theory
Retrieval cue theory
What does the interference theory suggest?
We forget due to new/old info affecting our memory
What is proactive interference?
Old information interfering with new information
What’s retroactive interference?
When new info interferes with old
What evidence is their for the interference theory?
Baddeley & hitch 1977
What was Baddeley and hitchs’ final conclusion and method?
Participants who had played a number of rugby union games where asked to remember as many teams they had played against
It was found that forgetting was more due to the number of games played than the time passed between games
-Retroactive as new team names interfered with old team names
What’s an issue with the interference theory of forgetting?
Most of the research that has been carried out was done in a lab using a list of words,not generalisable
What is the retrieval cue failures theory?
Says that the information is still in the LTM but there aren’t enough cues to retrieve the information,our memories can only be retrieved if we have cues or prompts to help retrieve them
What evidence is there for the retrieval cue failure?
Godden and Badeley 1975
What was Godden and Baddeleys study?
16 divers were split into four groups
Learned words Tested
A. On land On
B. On land. Under
C. Under water. Under
D. under On
Groups a + c were found to have he best recall as the location they learnt and were tested was the same,meaning they could form retrieval cues whilst learning the words
What’s a problem with the retrieval cue failure theory?
The research supporting the theory is highly artificial and has been conducted on small sample sizes
