retrieval failure Flashcards
Encoding specificity principle
memory retrieval is improved when the encoding context is the same as the retrieval
the 2 considerations for whether a cue will help recollection
Context dependent forgetting – godden + baddeley
State dependent forgetting – carter + cassaday
What is the impact of cues differing at encoding/retrieval?
If they both differ or absent at one stage there will be some forgetting
What is a meaningful cue
Information that is encoded at the time of learning which is stored in a meaningful way
What is a non-meaningful cue?
Information available at the time of learning, which is not directly related to the encoded material (eg. Weather)
Context dependent forgetting
recall is influenced by an external cue (eg. weather, or a place)
State dependent forgetting
recall is influenced by an internal cue
procedure of Godden & Baddeley
Deep sea divers learn a list of words either underwater or on land then asked to recall either on land or underwater
findings of Godden & Baddeley
Accurate recall was 40% lower in non matching conditions
The external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall and this led to retrieval failure
Self dependant forgetting
When retrieval failure happens as the external emotional cues that were present at encoding are not present at recall
procedure of Carter & Cassaday
p’s took anti histamine drugs (make u drowsy)
learn + recall a list of words or passages
result of Carter & Cassaday
When there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was lower
A strength of forgetting theory - reliable
All study showed consistent results in a range of settings
The concept also happens widely in real life when people forget why they went into a room
procedure of Overton
Asked p’s to learn material either drunk or sober . test them while drunk/sober
findings of Overton
it was found recall was worse if in different internal state and best in same internal state.
Eg. Info learnt drunk was recalled best drunk
strength of Overton
supported by similar findings by darely et al-investigating effects of marihuana
A strength of Overton’s theory - it has good real-life application
Revising in the same room as where the exams r held in to have a more successful recall
Supported by Grant (1998) – studying in silence or with music
limitation of the explanation of context dependent forgetting - Godden and baddeley
the context needs to be very different
A limitation of the encoding specificity principle - methodological issues
Use of repeated measure design may have introduced demand characteristics and order effects or fatigue effects
A limitation of the encoding specificity principle - it leads to circular reasoning in experiments.
Nairne - the cue and recall of a word need to rely on each other’s existence (encoding) to be tested so there is no way to test it
