psychology reasons for forgetting Flashcards
what is interference
two pieces of info disrupt each other resulting in forgetting
forgetting of ltm more likely because we cant gain access to them even though theyre available
what are the types of interference
PORN
proactive- old disrupts new
retroactive- new disrupts old
what are the research effects on similarity
mcgeoch and mcdonald- changed amount of similarity between memories
pps learned list of ten words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy
given another list- group 1 - synonyms
group 2- antonyms
group 3- words unrelated to original list
group 4- consonant syllables
group 5- three digit numbers
group 6- no new list (control group)
group one had worst recall- interference stronger when memories are similar
what are the explanations of the effects on similarity
proactive- previously stored info makes new similar info harder to store
retroactive- new info overwrites previous similar info because of the similarity
what are the real world application points (interference)
strengths
- evidence of interference in everyday situations
- baddeley and hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they had played for the season, all players had played the same amount of time, players who played the most game had tehe worst recall
- interference can operate in some real world applications
- increases validity of theory
weakness
- may cause some forgetting in everyday situations but it is unusual
- conditions necessary are relatively rare
- most forgetting may be ebtter explained by retriveal theories due to lack of cues
what are the interference and cues evaluation points (interference)
weakness
- interference temporary and can be overcome by cues
- tulving and psotka- gave pps lists of words orgnaised into categories, recall averaged 70% for the first list but worst as pps learned each additional list at the end pps were given cued recall and recall rose to 70%
- interference causes temp loss of accesibility to material that is still there
- finding that wasnt predicted by interference theory
what are the support from drug studies evaluation points (interference)
strenghts
- evidence of retrograde faciliation
- coenen et al- gave pps lists of words and later asked them to recall them, when list was learned under the influence of diazepam, recall one week later was poor compared to placebo, when list learned before crugg recall was better than placebo, wixted- drug prevents new info reaching parts of brain that processes memories so cant interfere retroactively with info already stored
- forgettong can be due to interference, reduce interference reduce forgetting
what is the reason behind insufficient cues causing forgetting
they are initially stored at the same time as info is placed in the memory
if cues arent available at the time of recall it may appear as if you have forgotton the info
what is the encoding specificity
tulving- cue has to be present at encoding and retrieval for it to be helpful
context dependent forgetting- recall depends on external cues eg environment
state dependent forgetting- recall depends on internal cues eg mood intoxication drugs
what is the research on context depedent forgetting
godden and baddeley- deep sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land hindered their work
divers asked to learn a list of words either underwater or on land creating four conditions
if conditions mismatched accurate recall was 40% lower than matching conditions
external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall lead to retrieval failure
what is the research on state dependent forgetting
carter and cassaday- antihistamines which creates internal physiological state different from the normal state
had to learn passages of prose and words creating four codnitions
if mismatch between internal state at learning and recall the performance was worse
what are the real world application evaluation points (retrieval failure)
strenghts
- can help overcome some forgetting in everyday situations
- cues are worth paying attention to
- being in one room going into another and forgetting what you went in for until back in original room
- when we have trouble remembering something worth making the effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first
- research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall
what are the research support pounts (retrieval failure)
strengths
- impressive range of research that supports- godden and baddeley and carter and cassaday lack of cues at recall can lead to context and state dependent forgetting
- eyesenck and keane- most important for forgetting
- occurs in real world situations as well as in highly controlled conditions
weakness
- baddleye context affects arents very strong in everyday life
- different context have to be very different before effect is seen- hard to find environment as hard as land and underwater
- learning something in one room and recallng it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because the environments arent different enough
what are the recall vs recognition points (retrieval failure)
weakness
- context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested
- godden and baddeley replicated but used recognition- no context dependent effect so performance was the same in all four conditions
- retrieval failure limited in explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall info rather than recognise it
what is retrieval failure
not being able to acess memories that are there
