explanations of forgetting : Retrieval failure

Question 1

Retrieval failure

Answer 1

A form of forgetting and 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

Question 2

Encoding Specificity principle

Answer 2

Tulving states that if a cue is to help us recall information it has to be present at encoding and at retrieval. If the cues present at encoding and retrieval are different then forgetting occurs

Question 3

Two types of retrieval failure

Answer 3

Context dependent forgetting and state dependant forgetting

Question 4

Context dependent forgetting ( Godden and Baddeley- procedure)

Answer 4

Divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then asked to recall the words either underwater or on land

Learn on land-recall on land
Learn on land- recall underwater
Learn underwater- recall underwater
Learn underwater- recall on land

Question 5

Context dependent forgetting ( Godden and Baddeley- findings)

Answer 5

accurate recall was 40% lower in the non matching conditions. The external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall and this led to retrieval failure

Question 6

State dependent forgetting (Carter and Cassaday) Procedure

Answer 6

Gave anti-histamines to their ppts making them feel slightly drowsy. This created an internal physiological state different from the normal state of being awake and alert. PPTs then had to learn a list of words and then recall.
4 conditions:

Learn on drug-recall when on it
Learn on drug- recall when not on it
Learn not on drug-Recall when on it
Learn not on it- recall when not on it

Question 7

State dependent forgetting (Carter and Cassaday) Findings

Answer 7

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 state dependent cues are absent, then there is more forgetting