memory: explanations for forgetting > retrieval failure Flashcards
What is retrieval failure?
A form of forgetting where we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory
The memory is available (in LTM) but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.
What is a cue in the context of memory?
A trigger of information that allows us to access a memory > they can be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning.
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Memory is most effective if information present at encoding is also available at the time of retrieval
Proposed by Tulving and Thomson.
outline Tulving and Pearlstone’s study
Participants had to learn 48 words, belonging to 12 categories.
Each word was presented as category + word, e.g. fruit-apple, fruit-orange.
Participants either had to recall as many words as they could (free recall) or they were given cues in the form of the category names (cued recall)
What did Tulving and Pearlstone’s study demonstrate?
Participants recalled 40% of words in free recall and 60% in cued recall
This suggests that cues have been explicitly or implicitly encoded at the time of learning.
Fill in the blank: A cue can be either ______ or ______ linked to the information learned.
external; internal
External cues may be environmental context, while internal cues may be related to mood.
What additional cues may aid in memory retrieval?
Environmental context and emotional state
True or False: Forgetting in long term memory is mainly due to retrieval failure.
True
This highlights the importance of cues for memory access.
What is the average recall percentage in the free recall condition according to Tulving and Pearlstone?
40%
What is the average recall percentage in the cued recall condition according to Tulving and Pearlstone?
60%
This indicates the effectiveness of cues in accessing memories.
What is context dependent forgetting?
The reduction in recall of specific information when the context present at encoding and recall are different
outline Godden and Baddeley’s study?
Recruited 18 deep sea divers.
the divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to immediately recall the words either underwater or on land. there were four conditions
What were the four conditions in Godden and Baddeley’s study?
- Learn on land, recall on land
- Learn on land, recall underwater
- Learn underwater, recall underwater
- Learn underwater, recall on land
What were the results of Godden and Baddeley’s study?
Accurate recall was 40% higher in the matching conditions
What conclusion can be drawn from Godden and Baddeley’s findings?
The context of learning acts as a trigger or cue when trying to remember information > the same context enhances the accuracy of memory
Context enhances the accuracy of memory.
What is state-dependent forgetting?
The mental state you are in at the time of learning can act as a cue for recall
What was the method used by Carter and Cassaday in their study?
Participants were given anti-histamine drugs to create a different internal physiological state
gave anti-histamine drugs to their participants. > the anti-histamine had a mild sedative effect making the participants
slightly drowsy.
This creates an internal physiological state different
from the ‘normal’ state of being awake and alert. The participants had to learn lists of words and passages of prose and then recall the information, creating four condition
The drugs had a sedative effect, impacting the participants’ alertness during learning and recall.
What were the four conditions in Carter and Cassaday’s study?
- Learn on drug, recall when on it
- Learn on drug, recall when not on it
- Learn when not on drug, recall when not on it
- Learn when not on drug, recall when on it
These conditions examined the impact of internal state on memory performance.
What were the findings regarding mismatched internal states in Carter and Cassaday’s study?
Performance on the memory test was significantly worse when there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall > This indicates that absence of cues related to internal state leads to increased forgetting.
True or False: Context can enhance memory accuracy.
True
Contextual cues play a significant role in improving recall accuracy.
Fill in the blank: The absence of cues during recall can lead to _______.
more forgetting
This highlights the importance of cues for effective memory retrieval.
AO3: real life application
There is real life application > The cognitive interview involves witnesses mentally reinstating the context. Witnesses are encouraged to imagine they are back at the crime scene such as the weather and time of day. This has been proven to improve the accuracy of EWT.
STRENGTH as this is based on the idea that conditions present at encoding such as the environment must be present at the time of recall, in order for memory to be accurate. As the environment will act as a cue to trigger memory
AO3: research to support
There are numerous studies which support retrieval failure. > The studies by Godden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassaday support retrieval failure.
STRENGTH because supporting evidence increase the validity of an explanation. This is especially true when the evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-life situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab.
COUNTER: Baddeley argues that context effects are actually not very strong, especially in everyday life. Different contexts have to be very different indeed before an effect is seen. For example, it would be hard to find an environment as different from land to underwater. But learning something in one room and recalling it in another has a minmal effect.
WEAKNESS This means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain forgetting everyday
AO3: recall vs recognition
One limitation is that context affects may depend on the type of memory being tested
Godden and Baddeley found recall was poor when the context for encoding and recall were different.
However, when they repeated this underwater experiment but used a recognition test rather than recall test results differed. Participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of recalling it themselves. When recognition was tested, there was no context-dependent forgetting in any condition.
WEAKNESS this suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall information rather than recognise it
