explanations for forgetting: retrieval failure

Question 1

why might people forget information?

Answer 1

• due to insufficient cues
• when information is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time
• if these cues are not avaiable at the time of recall, you may not be able to recall it

Question 2

what is retrieval failure?

Answer 2

• a form of forgetting
• it occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memories
• the memory is still available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided

Question 3

what is a cue?

Answer 3

• 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 time of learning
• indirect cues may be external or internal

Question 4

what is the encoding specificty principle? (tulving 1983)

Answer 4

if a cue is going to be helpful, it has to be both:

1. present at encoding ie. when we learn the material
2. present at retrieval ie. when we are recalling it

therefore, if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different, or if the cues are entirely absent at retrieval, there will be some forgetting

Question 5

in what way can cues be encoded at the time of learning?

Answer 5

• meaningful (eg. mnemonic techniques)
• non-meaningful

Question 6

what are 2 examples are non-meaningful cues?

Answer 6

• context-dependent forgetting: recall depends on external cue (eg. weather)
• state-dependent forgetting: recall depends on internal cue (eg. feeling upset)

Question 7

what is the procedure for research on context-dependent forgetting? (godden and baddeley 1975)

Answer 7

• studied deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater
• the divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land

Question 8

what were the 4 conditions involved in godden and baddeley’s research?

Answer 8

1. learn on land - recall on land
2. learn on land - recall underwater
3. learn underwater - recall on land
4. learn underwater - recall underwater

Question 9

what were the findings and conclusions of research on context-dependent forgetting?

Answer 9

• accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions
• they concluded that the external cues available at learning were different from ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure

Question 10

what is the procedure for research on state-dependent forgetting? (carter and cassaday 1998)

Answer 10

• 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 information in four conditions

Question 10

what were the 4 conditions involved in carter and cassaday’s research?

Answer 10

1. learn on drug - recall when on drug
2. learn on drug - recall not on drug
3. learn not on drug - recall when on drug
4. learn not on drug - recall when not on drug

Question 11

what were the findings and conclusions of research on state-dependent forgetting?

Answer 11

• 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 cues are absent, there is ore forgetting

Question 11

evaluation: real-world application

Answer 11

• retrieval cues can help to overcome some forgetting in everyday situations
• although cues may not have a very strong effect, baddeley suggests they are still worth paying attention to
• when you have trouble remembering something, it is probably worth trying to recall it in the environment you first learnt it
• this shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall

Question 12

evaluation: research support for retrieval failure explanation

Answer 12

• godden and baddeley and carter and cassaday show that a lack of relevant cue at recall can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting in everyday life
• eysenck and keane (2010) argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM
• this evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-world situations as well a in the highly controlled conditions of the lab

Question 13

evaluation: research support for context-related cues (aggleton and waskett 1999)

Answer 13

• conducted a study at the jorvik museum in york
• in viking times, york was called jorvik and the ruins still exist under the city today
• at the museum, the town has been reconstructed so you can travel back in time and experience what jorvik was like, including the smells
• the researchers found that recreating these smells helped people to recall the details of their trip to the museum more accurately, even after several years
• smell can act as a context-related cue to memory

Question 14

evaluation: context effects may not be very strong, especially in everyday life (baddeley 1997)

Answer 14

• different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen
• it would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater (godden and baddeley)
• in contrast, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough
• this means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cue may not actually explain much everyday forgetting

Question 15

evaluation: context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested

Answer 15

• godden and baddeley (1980) replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall
  > ie. participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it for themselves
• when recognition was tested, there was no context-dependent effect; performance was the same in all four conditions
• this suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting as it only applies when a person has a recall information rather than recognise it

Question 16

evaluation: problems with ESP

Answer 16

• it may not be possible to independently establish whether a cue has been encoded or not
• the reasoning is circular and based on assumptions
• in an experiment, if a cue did not produce recall, we assume it cannot have been encoded
• if the cue did produce recall, we assume it must have been encoded