Lesson 6 - Forgetting - Retrieval Failure Due to Absence of Cues Flashcards
What are cues?
Cues are triggers that allow us to remember information
What does the theory of retrieval failure due to absence of cues argue? (2)
The theory argues that information cannot be retrieved from the LTM because of a lack of cues which are associated and stored at the same time as information is initially placed in memory. These cues are needed to trigger the memory and if they do not occur, forgetting of information in the LTM will occur due to retrieval failure.
What is the encoding specificity principle? (2)
Who came up with it?
Tulving introduced the encoding specificity principle which suggests that cues will help retrieval, if they are the same as the cues present at encoding (when the information is initially stored) and retrieval (when we recall that information).
The closer the retrieval cue, to the original cue, the more effective the cue will be in triggering the memory.
What are the two types of cues?
Cues which are linked meaningfully to the information trying to be remembered
Cues which are NOT linked meaningfully to the information trying to be remembered, BUT may relate to the context/environment/location in which the learning occurred (external cue) or the mental state that we were in when we initially stored the information in our memory (internal cue).
Who did research to support the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving and Pearlstone
What did Tulving and Pearlstone’s do to research the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving and Pearlstone gave participants 48 words to recall which belonged to 1 out of 12 categories. Before each word was presented, its category (cue) was stated. For example, Gem: diamond Gem: sapphire Gem: ruby etc;
Results: When the cue was present, recall accuracy was about 60% but when the cue was presented, recall accuracy was only 40%.
Conclusion: this shows how cues do in fact help retrieval due to the, triggering information stored in our LTM - this supports the encoding specificity principle.
What is the context-dependent forgetting theory?
This theory argues that forgetting can occur when the context/environment during recall was different to the context/environment which was present when the information was learnt, meaning that the absence of the correct cue lead to retrieval failure.
What is the state-dependent forgetting theory? Give an example
This theory suggests that forgetting occurs due to an individual’s mood/mental state during recall being different to their mood/mental state that was present when they learnt the information, meaning that the absence of the correct cue lead to retrieval failure.
For example, if you are drunk when learning information but sober when attempting to recall that information, retrieval failure will occur due to the absence of the correct cue being present (being drunk).
Who researched the context-dependent forgetting theory?
Golden and Baddeley
What did Godden and Baddeley do to research the context-dependant forgetting theory?
18 divers were asked to remember 36 words and then recall them in 1 of 4 conditions:
1 learn on beach and recall on beach
2 learn on beach and recall underwater
3 learn underwater and recall on beach
4 learn underwater and recall underwater
Results: recall was was better when the environment/context was the same during recall and when the words were learnt. (Learn AND recalled on beach - 13.5 words were recalled on average) (Learn AND recalled underwater (11.4 words were recalled on average). When the environment/context changed, the recall of words decreased to 8.5 and 8.6.
Conclusion: this research supports the context-dependant theory because when external cues were different at the time of learning to the ones at recall, retrieval failure/forgetting occurred (less words were remembered by the divers).
What are 3 weakness of Godden and Baddeley’s research?
- Baddeley suggested that context doesn’t have very strong effects in real life due to the context having to be severely different in order for retrieval failure to actually occur for example, land and underwater are very different environments meaning that the context-dependant theory would occur in that instance. However, in real life, the context usually only differs slightly for example, two different classrooms. This means that the context-dependent theory cannot be properly applied to the real world.
- Their research lacked ecological validity due to the artificial task or remembering words on a beach/underwater (in the real world, people would not normally try and remember a list of words underwater).
- Psychologists have suggested that the context-dependent theory of forgetting may differ depending on what type of memory (procedural/episodic/semantic) is being tested. For example, the experiment was repeated, where instead of having to recall the words, the divers simply had to state if they recognised the words read to them. This time, the context-dependent theory didn’t influence the performance rates where even if the environment changed between learning and stating whether they remembered the words read out to them, the participants’ performance was the same to those who had the same environment. This suggests that context cues only affect memory when tested in a certain way.
Who researched the state-dependent forgetting theory?
Carter and Cassaday (1998)
What did Carter and Cassaday do to research the state-dependant forgetting theory?
Gave participants anti-histamines (drugs for controlling hay fever), which made them feel slightly drowsy, whilst they were learning lists of words.
They were put into 1 of 4 groups
1 - learn on drug and recall on drug
2 - learn on drug and recall not on the drug
3 - learn not on the drug and recall on the drug
4 - learn not on the drug and recall not on the drug
Results - participants recalled the lists of words the best when their internal state was the same/matched during both learning and recall. Those whose internal state changed between learning and recalling the list of words (being on the drugs at one point and not on the drugs at another point) could not recall the list of words as well as those whose internal states DID match.
Conclusion - this supports the state-dependant forgetting theory where if internal cues are absent, retrieval failure is more likely to occur.
What are two strengths of the retrieval failure due to the absence of cues theory?
+ there is a range of research, both lab studies and natural experiments. Lab studies provide reliability as they can be replicated easily and have produced consistent results (Tulving and Pearlstone). Natural experiments provide high ecological validity and can be applied to real life scenarios (Carter and Cassaday). Overall, the wide range of research support makes the explanation of forgetting very valid.
+ can be applied to real life scenarios. For example, in cognitive interviews, more specifically police investigations, witnesses are asked to recall the context of the scene (‘context reinstatement’) to help trigger detailed and accurate memory recall.
What are two weaknesses of the retrieval failure due to the absence of cues theory?
- most research studies tend to focus on recalling lists of words which is a very artificial task that only tends to occur in a classroom, not every aspect of real, day-to-day life, meaning that the research supporting the explanation lack ecological validity and realism and cannot give us an overall picture of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting.
- there is not research to support the encoding specificity principle do it it being hard to actually research it. For example, psychologists do not know what cues are meaningful to each individual and do not know what cues were encoded during learning (you can’t exactly prove which cues that individuals encoded at specific moments).
