retrieval failure

Question 1

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 1

-when information is stored in the Long-Term Memory but cannot be accessed.

Question 2

What does retrieval failure theory suggest forgetting is caused by?

Answer 2

forgetting is due to lack of cues.

Question 3

What are examples of non-meaningful cues?

Answer 3

two examples of non-meaningful cues:
-Context-dependent forgetting
-State-dependent forgetting

Question 4

What is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 4

recall depends on external cue/environment.

Question 5

What is state-dependent forgetting?

Answer 5

recall depends on internal cue (such as emotion, sober or not)

Question 6

What can meaningful cues be used for?

Answer 6

mnemonic techniques

Question 7

Who suggested ‘Encoding Specificity Principle’

Answer 7

Tulving 1983

Question 8

What does ‘Encoding Specificity Principle’ suggest?

Answer 8

This states that to be helpful, a cue has to be present at encoding (when we are learning it) and present at retrieval

Question 9

What states that to be helpful, a cue must be present at encoding and retrieval?

Answer 9

Encoding Specificity Principle

Question 10

What happens If the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different, or are entirely absent at retrieval?

Answer 10

there will be some forgetting.

Question 11

When investigating cues, what is the general procedure of the study?

Answer 11

The will always be 4 conditions, two where the context/ state are matched, and two where they are not.

Question 12

What did Godden and Baddeley (1975) investigate?

Answer 12

-the effect of an environment on recall

Question 13

What was the procedure of Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study?

Answer 13

-18 divers from a diving club were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of two or three syllables.
-there were four conditions

Question 14

What were the conditions in Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study?

Answer 14

1. Learn on land, recall on land
2. Learn on land, recall underwater
3. Learn underwater, recall on land
4. Learn underwater, recall underwater

Question 15

What were the findings of Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study?

Answer 15

-Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.
-The results show that context acted as a cue to recall as the participants recalled more words when they learned and recalled the words in the same environment than when they learned and recalled the words in different environments.

Question 16

What can we conclude from Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study?

Answer 16

Conclusion: External cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall which led to retrieval failure.

Question 17

Who investigated the effect of mental state on recall?

Answer 17

Carter and Cassaday (1998)

Question 18

What did Carter and Cassaday (1998) investigate?

Answer 18

the effect of mental state on recall

Question 19

What was the procedure of Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study?

Answer 19

-Participants were given antihistamine (a drug with a mild sedative effect) meaning that their internal physiological state differed from what it was normally.
-After taking the antihistamine, participants had to learn word lists and then recall the information again.
-There were four conditions

Question 20

What were the conditions in Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study?

Answer 20

1. Learn on drug recall on drug
2. Learn on drug recall not on drug
3. Learn not on drug recall on drug
4. Learn not on drug recall not on drug

Question 21

What were the findings of Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study?

Answer 21

Accurate recall was lower in the non-matching conditions.

Question 22

What can we conclude from Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study?

Answer 22

When the cues are absent, there is more forgetting.

Question 23

What are the limitations of the retrieval failure theory?

Answer 23

-context effects may not have that large of an impact on everyday life
-context effects may depend a lot on the type of memory being tested

Question 24

Explain the strength of retrieval failure theory that there is a wide range of research support?

Answer 24

-The studies by Godden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassaday are only two main examples because they show that a lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting in everyday life.
-Eysenck and Keane (2010) argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM.
-This evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-world situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab

Question 25

Explain how context effects may not have that large of an impact on everyday life?

Answer 25

-Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are actually not very strong, especially in everyday life because different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen.
-It would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater (Godden and Baddeley).
-In reality, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough.
-This means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting.

Question 26

Explain how context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested?

Answer 26

-Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall where participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it for themselves.
-When recognition was tested, performance was the same in all four conditions.
-This suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies to recalling information rather than recognising it.

Question 27

What are the strengths of the retrieval failure theory?

Answer 27

-real world applications
-wide range of research support