Explanations For Forgetting - Retrieval Failure Flashcards
What is a cue?
Any stimulus that can tigger memory
When does cue dependent forgetting occur?
Cue dependent forgetting occurs when there are INSUFFICIENT CUES (cues at time of encoding not at times of recall) available to trigger the memory at the time of recall.
It may appear that the information has been forgotten but, in fact, this is due to to retrieval failure - information is still in long term memory but is not accessible
What are the two types of forgetting?
Context-dependent forgetting and state-dependent forgetting
What is context dependent forgetting?
Context dependent forgetting occurs when the environmental cues present at encoding are absent at time of recall. These variables act as retrieval cues.
What study supports context dependent forgetting?
Explain procedure
Godden and Baddeley carried out a filed experiment of deep sea divers working underwater. In this situation it is crucial - a matter of life and death- for divers to remember instructions given before diving.
Divers learned a list of words either under water or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land.
The results shows that accurate recall was lower in the non-matching conditions than matching.
This was because the external cues available at learning were different from ones at recall and this led to retrieval failure
What is state-dependent forgetting?
The mental state/ mood or internal psychological state you are in at the time of learning can act as a cue.
State dependent forgetting occurs if the internal mental state at the time of encoding or internal physiological state (such as being drunk) is different to that at time of recall.
These variables act as retrieval cues.
What study supports state-dependent forgetting?
Explain procedure
Carter and Cassidy
In a laboratory experiment they gave participants anti-histamine drugs that result in drowsiness.
This creates an internal physiological state different with the normal one of being awake or alert.
The participants had to learn a list of words and then recall the information, creating four condition
In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at time of learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.
This shows that forgetting is more likely to occur when the internal cues at encoding are absent at retrieval (such as drowsy when recalling but alert when learning)
What does the Encoding Specificity principle state?
The ESP states that you are more likely to forget if the cues available during encoding are different to those during retrieval
Evaluation - Retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting
S
S
L
L
S - lots Research support Carter and Cassidy and Godden and Baddely
S: practical application (tests and cog interviews ewt)
L: conditions not that extreme in real life
L: Context effects may only occur when memory is tested in a certain way
L
Evaluation - Retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting
L: conditions not that extreme irl
The experiments into retrieval failure tend to rely on very different and extreme contexts in order to create conditions for forgetting.
Different contexts would have to be very different before an effect is seen, whereas in real life we would rarely if ever encounter an environment as different from land as underwater.
In reality learning something in one room and recalling in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough.
This is a limitation because it means that real life applications of retrieval failure due to context cues don’t actually explain much forgetting
Evaluation - Retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting
Practical application
Research suggests you should revise in the same room as where you will be taking your exams
Another practical use of the knowledge gained from cue-dependent forgetting is that of basis of cognitive interviews.
The aim is to jog the memory of the witness by recreating the context of the incident through the use of retrieval cues, with the participants wearing the same clothes and the reconstruction taking place in the same location
That fact that retrieval failure has many practical applications such as helping with revision and EWT adds strength to the idea that real life forgetting may be due to retrieval failure
Evaluation - Retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting
Context effects may only occur when memory is tested in a certain way
Godden and Baddeley’s findings only occurred when the divers had to free-recall items learned.
When given a recognition test (involving whether a named item was in a list or not) the context effect wasn’t seen.
This is a limitation as it means that the real life applications of retrieval failure may only apply to examples of free recall and not every day cases of recognition. This reduces the validity of the theory
Paul drove his friends out to eat one summers day. Just as they got to the restaurant carpark he suddenly realised he had forgotten something-he had forgotten his wallet. “I keep my wallet and jacket in different places, but always pick them up together “, Paul said “but because it is such a lovely evening, I decided not to bother with the jacket “.
Can you explain why Paul forgetting his jacket and he also forgot his wallet? (4 marks)
Paul forgetting his jacket is an example of cue dependent forgetting which occurs when there are insufficient cues available to trigger the memory at the time of recall.
Paul forgetting his wallet because he didn’t bring his jacket is an example of context dependent forgetting which occurs when the environmental cues present at encoding, in this case his jacket, are absent at the time of recall.
Context cues are environmental cues needed to trigger a memory, and in this case his jacket is the context cue needed to trigger the memory of his wallet. Because he didn’t bring his jacket he has no cue available to remember his wallet.
