Forgetting - Retrieval failure Flashcards
what is retrieval failure?
focuses on the difference between accessibility and availability
the reason people forget is due to insufficient cues, when information is stored in LTM it is also stored alongside cues,
if the cues are not available at the time of recall, it may seem as though information has been forgotten, but this is due to retrieval failure
what did Tulving (1983) study?
Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)
gave participants 48 words belonging to 12 categories, presented as category + word
pps in free recall showed 40% recall
pps in cued recall showed 60% recall
what is the encoding specificity principle?
memory is most efficient if information present at the time of encoding is also present at the time of recall
cues and learning and recall phases help recall if cues are similar
what did Godden and Baddeley (1975) study?
Context dependent forgetting
scuba divers learned a set of words either on land or underwater
they were later asked to recall them in either the same or different learning environment
highest recall was seen when in the same learning environment
what is State-dependent forgetting?
when your mood/physiological state during recall is different than when you learned the information
what did Goodwin et al (1969) study?
State dependent forgetting
48 male participants on 2 testing days assigned to 4 groups:
Group 1 (SS)
Group 2 (AA)
Group 3 (AS)
Group 4 (SA)
recall was highest when recalled in the same state they learned in
what are strengths of research into retrieval failure?
research supports the importance of cues
retrieval failure is a more important explanation of forgetting
real world applications (Smith)
what did Smith (1979) find?
just thinking of the room you were in when the original leaning took place (mental reinstatement) was just as effective as actually being in the same room at the time of retrieval
what are limitations of research into retrieval failure?
cues do not cause retrieval, they’re just associated with retrieval
Baddeley (1997) suggests the ESP is impossible to test as it is circular, and it is impossible to test if a cue has been encoded
