Explanations of forgetting: Retrieval failure

Question 1

Define retrieval failure

Answer 1

• A form 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.

Question 2

What are the 2 types of cues?

Answer 2

1. Cues that are linked meaningfully to the info to be remembered (e.g. STM= Short term memory).
2. Cues that are not linked meaningfully to the info to be remembered (e.g. context and state).

Question 3

What does this theory suggest?

Answer 3

• This theory proposes that when we learn the info we also encode the context (external cues) in which we learn the info and the mental state we are in (internal cues). These can act as cues to recall (hooks for memory).

Question 4

What is context-dependent forgetting?

Answer 4

• Occurs when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in when you were learning.

Question 5

What is state-dependent forgetting?

Answer 5

• Occurs when the internal state of the person (e.g. alertness), differs between the learning environment and the recall environment.

Question 6

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 6

• This states that if a cue is to help us recall info it has to be present at encoding and at retrieval.
• If the cues available at coding and retrieval are different there will be some forgetting.

Question 7

Research into retrieval failure: Godden + Baddeley (Aim)

Answer 7

Aim= investigated the effect of the environment on recall.

Question 8

Research into retrieval failure: Godden + Baddeley (Procedure).

Answer 8

18 divers from a diving club were sked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of 2/3 syllables.
4 conditions:
1. Learn on beach, recall on beach= congruent (same context at encoding & retrieval).
2. Learn on beach, recall underwater= incongruent (different context at encoding and retrieval).
3. Learn underwater- recall on beach= incongruent.
4. Learn underwater, recall underwater= congruent.

Question 9

Research into retrieval failure: Godden + Baddeley (Results).

Answer 9

Condition 1 (L=B, R=B): 13.5 correct words recalled (congruent conditions).
Condition 2 (L=B, R=U) 8.6 words correctly recalled (incongruent)
Condition 3 (L=U, R=B): 8.5 words correctly recalled (incongruent).
Condition 4 (L=U, R=U): 11.4 words correctly recalled (congruent).

Question 10

Research into retrieval failure: Godden & Baddeley (Conclusion).

Answer 10

• The results show that the context acted as a cue to recall as the ppts recalled more words when they learnt and recalled words in the same environment, than when they were learnt and recalled in different environments.

Question 11

Evaluation of research: Godden & Baddeley (-)

Answer 11

Point= there are difficulties establishing whether the change in content is causing reduced recall.
- An alternative explanation is that there is opportunity for rehearsal in the congruent conditions, but no opportunity for rehearsal in the incongruent conditions.
- E.g. moving from the beach to the water may cause unnecessary distractions, and therefore divers may find it hard to rehearse/ recall.
- This means that the results do not truly represent the effects of retrieval failure, and therefore it is hard to establish cause and effect relationships: is it retrieval failure causing a reduced number of words correctly recalled, or is it rehearsal?
- This makes us question the internal validity of the evidence.

• Could also say its an artificial situation- doesn’t look at retrieval failure in everyday life.

Question 12

Evaluation of retrieval failure (-)

Answer 12

Point= Questioning context effects.
- Baddeley argues that context effects aren’t very strong, especially in real life.
- Different contexts have to be extremely different before an effect is seen- such as underwater and land in Godden and Baddeley’s study.
- However in real life it is unlikely that the contexts will be that different.
- This is a limitation as it means that the real-life applications of retrieval failure due to contextual cues don’t actual explain much forgetting.

Question 13

Evaluation of the retrieval failure: Supporting evidence (+)

Answer 13

Point: there is lots of research to support the retrieval failure explanation for forgetting.
- Godden + Baddeley.
This is a strength because supporting evidence increases the validity of an explanation.
- This is especially true when the evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real life situations as well as the highly controlled conditions of the lab.