Retrieval Failure Flashcards
What is Retrieval Failure?
- When information is learnt, cues are encoded alongside it
- In order for a cue to help trigger the recall of info it must be present at encoding AND retrieval
- If the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different there will be forgetting
There are 2 types:
Context-dependent forgetting
State-dependent forgetting
What is context dependent forgetting?
- Cues may be external cues e.g. objects, rooms, etc
- When info is learned cues are encoded alongside
- If there is a difference in these cues at the point of recall context dependent forgetting may occur
- This is because there is nothing in the environment to trigger recall of memory
What study shows context dependent forgetting?
Godden and Baddeley divers study:
- 18 divers were given a list of 36 unrelated words to learn either underwater or on land and then were asked to free recall either underwater or on land
- Found that when the environmental contexts of learning and recall were the SAME PPs gave BETTER recall whereas when the environmental contexts of learning and recall were DIFFERENT PPs gave WORSE recall; the external cues present were different from the ones at learning leading to retrieval failure
- Conclusion: This suggests memory is better when the context of encoding and retrieval is consistent. When info is encoded in memory, associated contexts are recorded at the same time e.g. place. If these contexts are different at the time of retrieval, the info is more likely to be forgotten
What is state dependent forgetting?
- Cues may be internal cues e.g. emotions, physiological state, etc
- When info is learnt internal cues are encoded alongside
- If there is a difference in internal cues at recall then state dependent forgetting may occur as there is nothing in the environment to trigger recall
What study shows state dependent forgetting?
Goodwin et al:
- Volunteers were required to remember a list of words when they were either drunk or sober and then to recall the list after 24 hours either drunk or sober
- Found that PPs had a HIGHER recall when in the SAME physiological state (drunk-drunk, sober-sober) at learning and recall
- This suggests that if mental/physiological states are different at the time of encoding and retrieval then forgetting is more likely
How do Carter and Cassaday support the theory?
- One strength of RF is that there is research support
- Carter and Cassidy gave PPs either an antihistamine that causes drowsiness or a placebo and asked them to learn a list of words
- They then had to recall those words while either taking the same antihistamine or placebo
- They found that recall was higher when PPs were in the same physiological state (e.g. drowsy-drowsy) compared to when they were in a different physiological state (e.g. normal-drowsy)
- This is a strength because it shows that when internal cues are the same at encoding and retrieval state dependent forgetting is prevented
- And thus if these cues are different at encoding and retrieval forgetting occurs
- This validates RF
How is artificial evidence a weakness of the theory?
- One weakness of RF is that it relies on artificial evidence
- In Godden and Baddeley’s divert study the contexts of learning and recall where drastically different (on land or underwater)
- This is a problem because in the real world the contexts of learning and recall are usually far more similar
- Thus in real life a change in environment is less likely to lead to forgetting
- This limits the application of RF to everyday life as it can’t explain forgetting in most everyday situations
- Therefore as the evidence can be considered invalid, the theory that is based on the evidence is also invalid
How is the way memory is tested a weakness?
- A weakness of RF is that the extent of forgetting by RF depends on the way memory is being tested
- Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment using a recognition task instead of a free recall task
- When recognition was tested there was NO context dependent forgetting - accuracy was the same whether the contexts of learning and recall were the same or different
- This shows that context only effects memory when utilising free recall and not with recognition tasks
- Thus RF is an incomplete explanation reducing its validity
How does Abernathy support the theory?
- One strength is that there’s practical applications
- Abernathy suggests that when trying to recall info we should imagine the place the info was learned (mental reinstatement) to trigger recall
- He argued that this was just as effective as actually being where learning took place (context reinstatement) at the time of recall
- This is a strength because it shows that RF can help improve recall in everyday life as people just need to mentally recreate cues needed to trigger memories and recall info
- This can help students achieve better in exams
- Therefore RF increases in utility
