explanations for forgetting - retrieval failure Flashcards
retrieval failure
a form of forgetting. it occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. the memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.
when information is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time. if the cues are not available at the same time of recall, it may appear as if you have forgotten the information but, in fact, this is due to retrieval failure - not being able to access memories that are available.
cue
a ‘trigger’ of information that allows us to access a memory.
such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the same time of learning.
indirect cues may be external (environmental context) or internal (mood).
encoding specificity principle
endel tulving (1983) reviewed research into retrieval failure and discovered a consistent pattern to the findings.
this states that a cue (if it is going to be helpful) has to be both:
1. present at encoding (when we learn the material)
2. present at retrieval (when we are recalling it)
if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different (or if cues are entirely absent at retrieval) there will be some forgetting.
e.g. cue STM
may lead you to recall all sorts of information about STM. such cues are used in many mnemonic techniques.
other cues are also encoded at the time of learning but not in a meaningful way.
non-meaningful cues
- context-dependent forgetting
- state-dependent forgetting
context-dependent forgetting
recall depends on external cue (e.g. weather or a place)
state-dependent forgetting
recall depends on internal cue (e.g. feeling upset, being drunk)
research on context-dependent forgetting - procedure
duncan godden and alan baddeley (1975) studied deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater.
the diver learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land. this created four conditions:
1. learn on land - recall on land
2. learn on land - recall underwater
3. learn underwater - recall on land
4. learn underwater - recall underwater
findings and conclusions on context-dependent forgetting
in two of these conditions the environmental contexts of learning and recall matched, where as in the other two they did not. accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.
they concluded that the external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure,
research on state-dependent forgetting - procedure
sara carter and helen cassaday (1998) gave antihistamine drugs (for treating hay fever) to their participants. the antihistamines had a mild sedative effect making the participants slightly drowsy.
this creates an internal physiological state different from the ‘normal’ state of being awake and alert. the participants had to learn lists of words and passages of prose and then recall the information again creating 4 conditions:
1. learn on drug - recall when on drug
2. learn on drug - recall when not on drug
3. learn not on drug - recall when on drug
4. learn not on drug - recall when not on drug
findings on state-dependent forgetting
in the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall performance on the memory test was significantly worse. so when the cues are absent (e.g. you are drowsy when recalling information but had been alert learning it) then there is more forgetting.
strength - retrieval failure
p - research that supports the retrieval failure explanation
e - godden and baddeley and carter and cassaday are just two examples because they show that the lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context-dependent forgetting in everyday life.
memory researchers eysenck and keane (2010) argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM.
l - this evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-world situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab.
limitation - retrieval failure
p - is that context effects may depend substantially on the type of memory being tested.
e - godden and baddeley (1980) replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall - participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of them retrieving it for themselves.
e - when recognition was tested there was no context-dependent effect, performance was the same in all four conditions.
l - this suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall information rather than recognise it.
