Explanations For Forgetting: Retrieval Failure (M) Flashcards
Define retrieval failure?
A from 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
Define cue?
A trigger of information that allows us to access a memory. Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked to being encoded at the time of learning. For example cues may be external (environmental) or internal (mood or degree of drunkness)
What is encoding specificity principle? (ESP)
Tulving (1983) suggested that if a cue is to help it must be presented at encoding and retrieval
Cues may use mnemonic techniques e.g. Cue STM leads to recall is all sorts of info about the short term memory
What is context dependent forgetting ?
Golden and Baddeley (1975)- deep sea diets working underwater
Divers learnt a list of words either underwater or on the land, then asked to recall words either on land or underwater
What were the four conditions in Golden and Baddeley’s experiment?
Condition 1= Learn on land- recall on land
Condition 2= Learn underwater- recall on land
Condition 3= Learn on land-recall underwater
Condition 4= Learn underwater- recall under water
What were the results of Golden and Baddeley’s experiment?
40% lower recall in non- matching conditions , resulting in retrieval failure
Who was the state- depending forgetting experiment?
Carter and Cassidy (1998)
What was Carter and Cassidy’s experiment?
Gave antihistamines to participants (mild sedative)
In a different physiological state, they must learn a list of words and phrases
Condition 1: Learn on drugs and recall on drugs
Condition 2: Learn not on drugs and recall on drugs
Condition 3: Learn on drugs and recall not on drugs
Condition 4: Learn not on drugs and recall not on drugs
What were the results of Carter and Cassidy’s experiment?
Mismatching produced the worst results, when cues are absent there is more forgetting
What study support cues?
Agglutination and Waskett (1999)
Based on Jorvik museum
Recreating odours helped participants recall more details of the trip that they had been on
What is the supporting evidence?(evaluation)
Eysenck (2010)
Retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting from LTM
Supporting evidence increases validity of the explanation
RF occurs in real life situations as well as highly controlled conditions of the lab
What is the questioning context effect? (Evaluation)
Baddeley (1997)
Argues context effects are not strong especially in real life
Land and being underwater are both very different situations
Learning in one room and recalling in another is unlikely to result in forgetting
This is due to the context affecting it, meaning presence/ absence of cues affect memory when tested in a certain way
What are the problems with the encoding specificity principle? (Evaluation)
ESP cannot be tested
In experiments when cues produce successful recall, we assume a cue must have been encoded at the time of learning
When cues do not result in successful recall, we assume the cue was not encoded at the time of learning
These are just assumptions
What are two examples of real life applications? (Evaluation)
Going downstairs and forgetting why
When we have trouble remembering, it is worth an effort to recall the environment in which first learned (e.g. cognitive interviews)
What real life application experiment did Barker et al carry out? (Evaluation)
Participants in four groups
Group 1: gum + gum (chewing while learning and recalling)
Group 2: gum + no gum (chewing while learning but not while recalling)
Group 3: no gum + gum (now chewing when learning but chewing when recalling
group 4: no gum + no gum ( not chewing when learning or recalling)
Participants Learn list of 15 words in 2 minutes and are asked to recall straight away and then In 24 hours
