Lesson 8 - Forgetting through Retrieval Failure Flashcards
What is Retrieval Failure
A form of forgetting which occurs when we do not have the right cues needed to access a memory. The memory is available within your LTM, but is not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.
What is The Encoding Specificity Principle
- Tulving (1983)
- Looked at retrieval failure and found consistent patterns in forgetting and called this pattern the Encoding Specificity Principle.
- If a cue is going to be helpful it must be present at time of memory encoding (learning) and at retrieval (remembering).
What are cues
A trigger of information that allows us to access memory.
What is context-dependent forgetting
Recall depends on external cue (weather or a place etc).
What is state-dependent forgetting
Recall depends on internal cue (feeling upset, being drunk).
Explain research into context-dependent forgetting…
Theorists - Duncan Godden and Alan Baddeley
Aim - to see if training on land help or hindered the work of divers underwater.
Method - the divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land.
Results - in two of these conditions the environmental contexts of learning and recall matched. Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.
Conclusion - the external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure.
Explain research into state-dependent forgetting…
Theorists - Sara Carter and Helen Cassady
Aim - to see if the internal state affects recall.
Method - people were taught information ams asked to recall in one of 4 conditions:
* learn on drug - recall on drug
* learn off drug - recall off
* learn on drug - recall off
* learn off drug - recall on
Results/conclusion - learning and recall environment promoted better recall when states were similar.
Strength and counterpoint of forgetting through retrieval failure…
Strength - there is an impressive range of research that supports the retrieval failure explanation, such as Godden + Baddeley, Carter + Cassady. Both show lack of relevant cues can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting in everyday life. Evidence show that retrieval failure occurs in real world situations as well as in lab settings. RELIABILITY
Counterpoint (limitation) - Baddeley argues that context effects are not very strong, especially in everyday life. In real life it is difficult to find two environments so different to each other as land and underwater, learning and recalling in different rooms aren’t that contrastingly different. Therefore lacks real world APPLICATION as differences are over exaggerated in study.
Another strength…
Retrieval cues can help overcome some forgetting, although they might not have a strong effect on forgetting they are still worth accounting for according to Baddeley. When we have trouble remembering something, it is probably worth making the effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first. This shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall.
Another weakness…
One limitation is that context effects may depend substantially on the type of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall. P’s had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it for themselves. When recognition was tested there was no context-dependent effects. This suggest that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall information rather than recognise it. VALIDITY
