PAPER 1 - MEMORY - explanations of forgetting - interference theory & retrieval failure

Question 1

what are the 2 types of interference?

Answer 1

• proactive interference
• retroactive interference

Question 2

what is proactive interference?

Answer 2

pervious learning interfering with new memories

Question 3

what is retroactive interference?

Answer 3

recent memories interfering with ability to recall older memories

Question 4

what is an example of paired associated learning?

Answer 4

• participants in experimental condition learn a list of words on list A paired with words on list B
• list A words are now paired with list C words
• then only given words from list A and asked to then recall words paired from list C
• findings indicated recall was poor compared to control condition where they only needed to learn the word pairs from list A and C

Question 5

what is an everyday example of proactive interference?

Answer 5

• recently got a new mobile phone with new phone number, you find yourself confusing the new number with your old one

Question 6

what did McGeoch and McDonald carry out?

Answer 6

• experimented effects of similarity of materials
• gave participants list of 10 adjectives (list A) which was learned and then there was a 10 minute interval when they learned list B
• if list B was:
  synonyms -12% recall
  nonsense syllables - 26% recall
  numbers - 37% recall

Question 7

what is a strength of interference theory?

Answer 7

examples are present in everyday life so can be applied to real life

Question 8

what are some limitations of interference theory?

Answer 8

• 2 similar competing memories will not always be muddled or forgotten/ interfered with so can only explain SOME forgetting
• evidence is artificial/ lab, nonsense trigrams/ symbols
  —low ecological validity and mundane realism and doesn’t reflect everyday life

Question 9

what is mundane realism?

Answer 9

does it relate to how we use our memory in everyday life

Question 10

what are the 2 explanations for forgetting?

Answer 10

interference and retrieval failure

Question 11

what is one explanation of retrieval failure?

Answer 11

encoding specificity principle

Question 12

what is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 12

when we acquire memories we encode them with links to other information which existed at the time of acquisition (becoming a possible retrieval cue)

Question 13

who proposed the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 13

tuvling and thomson (1973)

Question 14

what did Tulving argue about forgetting?

Answer 14

argued that forgetting occurs when there is a poor match fit between information contained in memory trace and cues available at time of retrieval

Question 15

what does the encoding specificity suggest about recall?

Answer 15

recall is more effective when the information that was present at the time of encoding is also available at the time of retrieval

Question 16

what are the 2 types of cues?

Answer 16

• external cues
• internal cues

Question 17

what are the 2 types of external cues?

Answer 17

• explicit cues linked to learning material
• environmental context

Question 18

what is 1 type of internal cue?

Answer 18

emotional/ physiological state

Question 19

what is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 19

when individuals fail to recall something because they are not in the same context at retrieval as they were when they learned the information

Question 20

what is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 20

being in a different physiological state at encoding and retrieval may result in retrieval failure

Question 21

what does the Godden and Baddeley scuba divers study suggest about forgetting?

Answer 21

participants learned a list of unrelated words either on land or under water, they were tested in either same or different context
- recall was highest in initial learning context

Question 22

what does the study by Smith (1979) suggest about forgetting?

Answer 22

• participants learned list of 80 words whilst in a distinctive basement room, next day they had to recall those words
• group 1 recalled them in same basement (recall - 18)
• group 2 recalled them in upstairs room (recall - 12)
• group 3 recalled in upstairs room but imagine they were in basement (recall - 17)

Question 23

what are the strengths of retrieval failure?

Answer 23

• real world application
• lots of research support
• retrieval failure explains interference effects

Question 24

what are the limitations of retrieval failure?

Answer 24

• retrieval cues do not always work (cue effectiveness reduced when in presence of better cues)
• danger of circularity - cues do not cause retrieval, only associated