Memory Booklet 2: Forgetting Flashcards
What are the two examples of explanations for forgetting on the spec?
-Interference
-Retrieval failure
What are the two types of interference?
Retroactive and Proactive
What is the key study done on Interference theory?
Underwood and Postman’s - Interference investigation
What was the method for Underwood and Postman’s study?
-Participants divided into 2 groups
-Group A asked to learn words from list A paired with words from list B. They were then asked to learn a second list of word pairs - words from list A paired with words from list C
-Group B only asked to learn words from list A paired with words from list B
-Each participant given the first word from list A and asked to recall from: B or C for group A, B for group B
What was the results of Underwood and Postman’s study?
Participants in group A found it harder to recall from list B or C, whereas group B found it easier to recall from list B.
What does Underwood and Postman’s study show?
Retroactive interference
How can we remember which is which (proactive and retroactive)?
(P)roactive =
(P)ast learning interfering with new learning
(R)etroactive =
(R)ecent learning interfering with old learning
What is proactive interference by definition?
Older memories interfering and hindering newer ones
What is retroactive interference by definition?
Newer memories interfering with older ones
Interference is much more likely when memories are similar, what study was done into this?
McGeoch and McDonald
What was the method of McGeoch and McDonalds study?
Participants given a list of 10 adjectives to learn (List A). Once they were learned there was a resting interval of 10 minutes during which they learned list B followed by recall
What were the results of McGeoch and McDonalds study?
-If List B was a list of synonyms of List A, recall was poor (12%)
-If List B was nonsense syllables this had less effect (recall was 26%)
-If List B was numbers then recall was best (37%)
What does the findings of McGeoch and McDonalds study suggest?
Interference is strongest when the words/material being learnt is similar in meaning
What are the evaluations of interference?
😒Uses artificial stimuli (list of words)
😒Effects of interference may be temporary (Ceraso)
😒Evidence to suggest individual differences influence (Kane and Engle)
😊Evidence to support (Baddeley and Hitch)
😊Thousands of lab experiments have been carried out
What are the findings of Ceraso’s study?
Ceraso 1967 found that if memory was tested again 24 hours later, then recognition of the words showed considerable spontaneous recover
What are the findings of Kane and Engle’s study?
Individuals with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to proactive interference, and those with low working memory span showed greater proactive interference
What are the findings of Baddeley and Hitch’s study?
Results showed that rugby players recall of matches didn’t depend on how long ago the team played but on the number of games that had been played in the meantime. Better recall of 1 match 3 weeks ago, than 1 match 1 week ago but with 3 matches played
What are the core principles of retrieval failure?
-There is a difference between accessibility and availability of info in the brain
-We forget material from our LTM because the material isn’t accessible
-Due to lack of right triggers or cues
What is encoding specificity principle?
Proposed by Tulving: Memory is most effective if information that was present at encoding is also available at time of retrieval
If the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different or absent there will be some forgetting
What are the two types of forgetting named by the encoding specificity principle?
Context-dependent forgetting (external cues)
State-dependent forgetting (internal cues)
How is AO1 for context/stat-dependent forgetting explained?
through studies
What is the study for context-dependent forgetting?
Godden and Baddeley
What was the method in Godden and Baddeley
-Asked divers to learn a list of words and then recall these words in different conditions. Participants divided into 4 groups-
Learn on land - recall on land
Learn on land - recall underwater
Learn underwater - recall on land
Learn underwater - recall underwater
What were the results and findings of Godden and Baddeley?
Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions, as there was absent environmental cues, the prompts/cues weren’t there to aid recall for the participants who had different recall and learn areas.
What study is into state-dependent forgetting?
Goodwin
What was the method of Goodwin’s study?
-Asked male volunteers to remember a list of words when they were either drunk (x3 times over uk drink driving limit) or sober
-Asked to recall 24 hours later when they were again drunk or sober
What were the findings of Goodwin’s study?
As there was an absence of internal cues, the different learning and recall states didn’t provide participants with the needed prompts and cues. Retrieval failure was more likely when the learning and recall mental state were different
What are the evaluations of retrieval theory?
😒Evidence to contradict (Baddeley 1997)
😒Evidence to contradict (Baddeley 1980)
😊Practical applications (Abernethy and Smith)
😒Evidence to suggest retrieval cues don’t work (Smith and Vela)
😒Evidence to contradict (Nairne)
Explain Baddeley 1997…
Argued that context effects are not as strong as his study. Different contexts have to be very different before a specific effect is seen, would be hard to find an environment as different from land and underwater in everyday life.
Explain Baddeley 1980
Replicated underwater experiment but used a recognition test, instead of recall - participants had to identify recognising a word read to them instead of retrieving it. Recognition meant that performance was same in all conditions
What did Abernethy and Smith suggest suggest for practical application?
Abernethy - Suggested students ought to revise in the room they will be taking the exam
Smith - showed that thinking of the room where the revision happened is just as effective as being there
What did Smith and Vela suggest?
That context effects are largely eliminated when learning meaningful material, compared to material with no meaning (random word list)
What did Nairne suggest?
Criticism of “myth of encoding - retrieval match” claiming that the relationship between encoding cues and later retrieval is a correlation, as cues do not cause retrieval, they are just associated with retrieval
