Explanations of forgetting Flashcards
Forgetting
The inability to recall information that was previously stored in memory
What are the two main explanations of forgetting?
Inference, Retrieval failure
What are the two types of inference in forgetting?
Proactive and Retroactive
Why does retrieval failure occur?
absence of cues
Interference theory
Forgetting occurs when memories are in conflict and memories are distorted due to similarities
proactive interference
When an old memory interferes with the recall of a new memory
retroactive interference
When a new memory interferes with an old memory
What was the aim of McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study?
to see if interference had an impact on forgetting
What was the method of McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study?
6 groups learn words to 100% accuracy and 5 learn new list (interference). Then they had to recall original list
What were the 6 groups in McGeoch and McDonald’s study?
Synonyms, Antonyms, Unrelated words, Nonsense syllables, 3 digit numbers, No new list
What were the results of the McGeoch and Mcdonald’s study?
Control group recalled most information with no interference group.
What are the strengths of interference as an explanation of forgetting
- Supported by many well-controlled lab studies (McGeoch and McDonald shows interference)
- Realistic studies support this (Baddeley and Hitch)
What are the weaknesses of interference as an explanation of forgetting
- Most supporting studied are lab studies so unrealistic material and lacks ecological validity
- Time periods between learning content and recall is short so lacks ecological validity
- effects of interference can be overcome using cues
What was the aim of Baddeley and Hitch’s (1977) study?
Wanted to investigate interference in everyday life
What was the method of Baddeley and Hitch’s (1977) study?
Sample of rugby players who had played every seasons match and some who had missed some games due to injury. The length of time from the start to end of the season was the same for all players and players were asked to recall the names of teams the have played against
What were the results of the Baddeley and Hitch’s (1977) study?
Players who played most games forgot more games than those who played less and accuracy didn’t depend on how long ago the match was
What was the conclusion of Baddeley and Hitch’s (1977) study?
This was a result of Retroactive interference as the memory of new information interferes with memory of old information
Encoding specificy principle
Cues will help retrieval if same cues are present at coding and retrieval. The closer the retrieval cue to the original cue, the more effective the cue in triggering the memory
What is the research support of the encoding specificity principle in improving recall?
Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)
What was the method of Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) study?
Participants recall 48 words that belong to one of 12 categories as each word was preceded by its category which would be the cue.
What was the result of Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) study?
If the cue was presented at recall then overall recall was 60%, if not then it was 40%.
What was the conclusion of Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) study?
Retrieval of information stored in the LTM is better when there are cues present, supporting encoding specificity principle
Context dependent forgetting
We forget the information because the context we learned the information in was different to the context when you had to remember the information so the absence of the correct cue (environment) leads you to not be able to recall the information
What studies support context dependent forgetting?
Abernerthy (1940) and Godden and Baddeley (1975)
What was the method of the Abernerthy (1940) study?
A group of students were to be tested priot to a certain course beginning and then tested weekly but in four different groups
What was the first group in the Abernerthy (1940) study?
Group 1) Same teaching room, same instructor
What was the second group in the Abernerthy (1940) study?
Group 2) Same teaching room but different instructor
What was the third group in the Abernerthy (1940) study?
Group 3) Different room but same instructor
What was the fourth group in the Abernerthy (1940) study?
Group 4) Different room, different instructor
What were the results of the Abernerthy (1940) study?
Group 1 performed the best because the familiar things (context staying the same) acted as memory cues. However, ‘able’ students were least affected by changed and ‘less’ able students were more affected
What was the method of Godden and Baddeley (1975)?
18 divers were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of two or three syllables and the recall them. Each diver had to participate in 4 conditions.
What were the four conditions of the Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
a) Learn on the beach, recall on the beach
b) Learn on the beach, recall underwater
c) Learn underwater, recall on the beach
d) Learn underwater, recall underwater
What were the results of the Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
Recall was better when the environment they learnt and recalled the information matched.
What was the conclusion of the Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
When external cues available at the time of learning were different to the ones at recall, there was retrieval failure due to lack of cues showing context dependent forgetting.
What was the weakness of the Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
- Baddeley argues such context effects may not be strong in real life and contexts much be very different before context effect is seen and this rarely happens in real life. This suggests lack of contextual cues may not commonly explain forgetting irl
What was the strength of the Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
+ Abernerthy’s study did prove that the context was an important cue in remembering info
State dependent forgetting
Argues retrieval failure is due to absence of the same state of mind at learning and recalling
What is the evidence for state dependant forgetting?
Carter and Cassaday (1998)
What was the method for Carter and Cassaday (1998) study?
They gave participants anti-histamines - drugs that make people drowsy. Had to learn lists of words and passages of information and recall. There were 4 groups in 2 groups internal state matched and the other two they didn’t
What were the groups in Carter and Cassaday (1998)?
Group 1 - Learn on drug, recall on drug
Group 2 - Learn not on drug, recall on drug
Group 3 - Learn and recall not on drug
Group 4 - Learn on drug, recall not on drug
What was the results of the Carter and Cassaday (1998) study?
Participants recalled best when their internal state matched learning and recall
What was the conclusion of the Carter and Cassaday (1998) study?
When internal cues are absent forgetting is more likely.
What are the strengths of the retrieval failure explanation of forgetting?
- Range of research that shows retrieval failure due to absence of cues is that the context is an important cue when remembering information
- the concept of context dependent cues and state dependent cues has real life applications (Cognitive interview)
What are the weaknesses of the retrieval failure explanation of forgetting?
- Retrieval cues do not always work since our learning is related to a lot more than just cues, also many of the research studies focus on cues so lack ecological validity
- difficult to test the encoding specificity principle as we don’t know which cues are meaningful and how they are encoded
