Lesson 9 - forgetting: retrieval failure

Question 1

what is retrieval failure

Answer 1

forgetting occurs due to absence of appropriate cues
cues are stored with info, lack of cues means info cannot be accessed

Question 2

what are context cues

Answer 2

the environment in which material is learnt can be a cue
recall info in same environment it was learnt, recall will be better

Question 3

what are state cues

Answer 3

physical state (e.g. mood) can affect recall
recall is facilitated if people have similar physical state at recall and coding

Question 4

evaluation of retrieval failure theory of forgetting

Answer 4

(+) godden and baddeley - context-dependant cues, asked divers to learn and recall words in diff conditions, words recalled in same context as coding were better
(+) darley et al - state-dependant cues, pps who hid money in a large warehouse under the influence of cannabis were more likely to recall the hiding place when in a similar drugged state
(+) practical applications, students should be placed in a room not similar to classrooms for an exam
(-) baddeley says influence of retrieval cues is not strong - we often recall something in a different context to where we learnt it