Explanations for Forgetting: Retrieval failure due to an absence of cues Flashcards
What is a cue?
When we encode a new memory, we also store information that occurred around it. Such as, the way we felt or the place we were in.
What happens if cues are not present?
When we come to recall, we will then find it difficult to retrieve the memory.
Tulving : Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP) -
The greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory.
What is context-dependent forgetting?
We forget because the context in which we encode a memory, is different to the context in which we recall a memory. Context dependent cues can include a location, people, weather, time of day etc.
What are the two types of cue dependent forgetting?
Context - external environmental cues
State - internal cues
Evaluate context dependent forgetting -
There is research to support the idea that context plays a key role in forgetting. Godden and Baddeley gave deep sea divers lists of words to remember. Some learned them on the beach, others under 15 feet of water. Recall was best when the divers recalled the words in the same environment that they learnt them.
However Baddeley realised that the experiment was extreme and in real life it is rare for the contexts to be so different. Abernathy performed a more realistic study into the effects of context on forgetting. He found that psychology students performed better when tested by their own teachers in their own classrooms. Students that were tested in an exam hall performed worse. Therefore, context does cue memory even in ‘realistic’ scenarios.
What is state dependent forgetting?
Our state of mind can also act as a cue. States - dependent cues can be emotion, drunk/sober, high/sober etc. The classic example is not remembering what you did at the party the night before due to amount of alcohol consumed but being able to remember all the details when in a similar state of mind.
Evaluate state dependent forgetting -
There is research support, Goodwin et al found that participants who had hidden money or alcohol when drunk were unable to remember where they were the next day. However, they were able to find the money/alcohol the next time they were drunk.
Carter and Cassaday gave antihistamines to groups of participants, followed by a recall task. They were compared to a non sedated control group. They found that participants best recalled words when they were in the same state of mind as when they learned the words.
