explanations for forgetting - retrieval failure Flashcards
what is retrieval failure?
retrieval failure suggests that forgetting occurs when the ‘cues’
present at the time of encoding the information are not present at the time of recall
who researched the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving
what is the encoding specificity principle?
states that if a cue is to help us to recall information it has to be present at encoding and at retrieval
- if cues are different at these two stages there will be some forgetting
what are the 2 types of retrieval failure?
- context-dependant forgetting
- state-dependant forgetting
what is context-dependant forgetting?
context-dependent forgetting occurs when our external cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall.
-e.g. learning at home, but recalling at school
what is state-dependant forgetting?
state-dependent forgetting occurs when our internal cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall.
- e.g. being drunk at the time of learning info, and trying to recall info when sober
who researched context-dependant forgetting?
Godden and Baddeley
outline the procedure of Godden and Baddeley’s study
- asked 18 deep-sea divers to memorise a list of 36 unrelated words of 2-3 syllables
- 4 conditions;
1. learnt on beach, recalled on beach
2. learnt beach, recalled underwater
3. learnt underwater, recalled underwater
4. learnt underwater, recalled on beach
outline Godden and Baddeley’s findings
- results show that external context acted as a cue to recall
- ppt’s recalled more words when they learnt and recalled the words in the same environment/context (recalled 40% more words)
- less words recalled when learning context didn’t match retrieval context
evaluation Godden and Baddeley: may lack ecological validity + ELAB: controlled
ID: the findings from studies of retrieval failure may lack ecological validity.
Q: this is because Baddeley argued that it is difficult to find conditions in real-life which are as polar as water and land, for example, and thus questioned the existence of context effects in normal life
EX: for example, in order to see an actual effect in retrieval failure the contexts have to be very different and that it is very hard to do
AN: this is a limitation as it means that real life applications of retrieval failure due to contextual cues can’t provide a full explanation for forgetting.
ELAB: however, the study was carried out using controlled methods, and therefore it can be replicated so reliability can be tested
evaluation: real-world application (Smith)
ID: a strength of research into forgetting is that it has real-world applications
Q: this means that the retrieval failure explanation can be used to reduce forgetting in the real-world
EX: for example, evidence for this comes from Smith, who showed that just thinking of the room where you did the original learning was as effective as being in the same room at the time of retrieval.
AN: this is a positive as the theory provides practical applications and may be used to help people recall info more easily.
evaluation: evidence to support state-dependant forgetting (Goodwin)
ID: there is evidence to support state-dependant forgetting
Q: this comes from Goodwin and provides evidence of a link between an individual’s internal environment and forgetting
EX: for example, he found that male volunteers who had learned a list of words when drunk or sober, forget most when their learning state did not match their state of retrieval (sober). it was concluded that state-dependant forgetting applies to degrees of intoxication as well as emotion
AN: this is positive for retrieval failure as there is evidence from a variety of different states for this explanation of forgetting, increasing external validity of state-dependant forgetting
