Forgetting - cue dependent forgetting/retrieval failure Flashcards
What is cue dependent forgetting/retrieval failure?
A type of forgetting based upon the failure to retrieve the prompts to trigger recall.
Information is still in the LTM but cannot be accessed.
Recall is dependent on accessing information by remembering the retrieval cue under which the information is stored.
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving (1983)
If a cue is to help us in recall it has to be present at encoding and retrieval.
If the cues available at coding and retrieval are different then forgetting will occur.
What is context-dependent failure?
External retrieval cues, forgetting occurs when the external environment is different at recall from when it was encoded.
What is state-dependent retrieval?
Internal retrieval cues, forgetting occurs when an individuals internal environment is dissimilar at recall to when the information was encoded.
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
Context- dependent
Procedure:
Divers learnt a list of words underwater or on land. Four conditions: learn on land and recall on land, learn on land and recall underwater, learn underwater and recall on land, learn underwater and recall underwater.
Findings:
Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.
External cues at learning were different from the ones at recall.
Retrieval failure.
Darley et al (1973)
Participants hid money while high on marijuana were less able to recall where the money was when they were not high.
When they were high again they were better able to recall where they had hidden the money.
Supports state-dependent recall.
Ethical concerns - protection from harm, not sure what effects it will have (whether it will make them anxious). May cause mental illness in people who didn’t previously have it - e.g. schizophrenia (hallucinations, delusions).
Carter and Cassady (1998)
State-dependent forgetting
Procedure:
Gave anti-histamine to participants - internal physiological state is different.
Conditions: learn on drug and recall when on it, learn not on drug and recall when on it, learn on drug and recall not on it, learn not on drug and recall when not on it.
Findings:
If the internal state at learning and recall are different, the performance on the memory test was worse. This suggests that when the cues are absent then there is more forgetting.
AO3: Baddeley (1997) questioned context effects
Baddeley argued context effects are not actually very strong.
In Godden and Baddeley’s research the difference between underwater and on land was enormous.
He says that in real life the difference is not that much (e.g. room to room).
So the explanation likely wouldn’t explain much in real life forgetting.
Low external validity.
AO3: Real-life applications for the theory
Revision - context - taking exams where they learn information - state - calm when revising will mean calm internal cues trigger recall if calm in the exam.
Useful, beneficial.
AO3: real-life application to cognitive interview
One of the techniques in C.I is to reinstate the context where witnesses of crime are taken back to the scene.
This is so external cues can help trigger recall.
This is important as accurate eye-witness testimony means fewer wrongful arrests and can help the police catch the right person which benefits society. It can also help the police be more time-efficient and therefore cheaper.
AO3: Encoding specificity principle cannot be tested
The encoding specificity principle is difficult/impossible to test by itself.
We assume it has occurred in experiments, but it is an unfalsifiable concept so we cannot be sure.
This makes it unscientific.
It also brings into question the whole validity of retrieval failure as the ESP underpins the whole explanation.
AO3: altering the scuba diver study to be a recognition test
Godden and Baddeley repeated the experiment with a recognition test instead of a free recall test.
They found no difference and no context effects in the conditions.
This shows that retrieval failure only seems to be prevalent when memory is tested in particular ways.
This would indicate that retrieval failure does not seem to be an adequate sole explanation of all forgetting as context dependent forgetting would predict the external cues make a difference even for the recognition test.
