retrieval failure

Question 1

what happened to Marcel Proust

Answer 1

he described how a long forgotten childhood memory suddenly and unexpectedly popped into his head as he tasted a particular biscuit with a cup of tea

Question 2

what does the retrieval failure explanation state

Answer 2

the reason we froget is not because the memory has disappeared. the memory is in our mind, we’re just having a problem accessing the memory. we lack the right cue to trigger the recall of memory

Question 3

what is cue-dependant retrieval failure

Answer 3

happens when you cant access a memory in LTM as there no cues to help you

Question 4

what did Envel Tulving propose

Answer 4

the encoding specificity principle

Question 5

what is the ESP

Answer 5

the cues available at recall need to be the same specific cues that were there at learning when we first encoded the memory

Question 6

what can happen if the cues at encoding aren’t available

Answer 6

forgetting may happen

Question 7

what is a cue

Answer 7

Memory cues external reminders that help people recall target information. they are stimuli that prompt a memory. it provides the context required to retrieve the memory

Question 8

what is retrieval failure broken down into

Answer 8

context dependant and state dependant forgetting

Question 9

what is context dependant forgetting

Answer 9

at recall, we lack the EXTERNAL cues that were present at learning. it occurs when people struggle to recall information if they’re in a different context than when the information was recalled

Question 10

why does context dependant forgetting lead to retrieval failure

Answer 10

if we’re trying to recall a memory but the external contextual cues are missing or you are trying to recall the information in a different location from where you learned or encoded the information we can fail to retrieve the memory

Question 11

give an example of CDF

Answer 11

the idea of retracing your steps to find a missing item. the external cue of the environment, where the item was lost, often helps find the item as the original context helps recall information

Question 12

what is state dependant forgetting

Answer 12

at recall we lack the internal cues that were present at learning. this can be psychological or physiological.

Question 13

give an example of SDF

Answer 13

in an exam, people tend to forget because they are in a tense state. when they were learning and encoding the information for the exam into their memory, they were not in that state. the internal cues are absent the memories have not disappeared.

Question 14

how did Godden and Baddeley investigate CDF

Answer 14

they tested scubadivers on their ability to remember lists of words under four conditions. there were 13 males and 5 females from a university diving club

Question 15

what were the four conditions in G&B

Answer 15

condition 1 - learn underwater, recall underwater
condition 2 - learn underwater, recall on land
condition 3 - learn on land, recall underwater
condition 4 - learn on land, recall on land

Question 16

what kind of design did G&B use

Answer 16

a repeated measures design was used so each participant took part in 4 conditions over 4 different days

Question 17

what were the findings of G&B

Answer 17

they found that recall was the best for conditions one and four. the cues available at recall were the same as learning. recall was worse for conditions two and three as the contexts were different.

Question 18

what did G&B show

Answer 18

it shows how we can forget if contextual cues are absent during recall.

Question 19

how did Carter and Cassady study SDF

Answer 19

they wanted to see if taking an antihistamine (changing internal state) would affect memory recall. they had participants try to free recall a list of 20 words and free recall a short passage of information

Question 20

what were the conditions of C&C experiment

Answer 20

condition 1 - learn with no drug, recall with no drug
condition 2 - learn with no drug, recall with drug
condition 3 - learn with drug, recall with no drug
condition 4 - learn with drug, recall with drug

Question 21

what were the findings of C&C

Answer 21

the amount participants could recall was affected by the state they were in. recall was higher when they were in the same internal state at recall and learning. retrieval failure happened when they were in different states at encoding and recall

Question 22

what are the criticisms of retreival failure theory (1)

Answer 22

the context or state you are in has to be dramatically different from the contect or state you encoding the info in. the ones used in experiments is unlike many of the day-to-day experiences of forgetting. the explanation doesnt account for why we might forget in circumstances that aren’t so dramatic or where things are fairly similar.

Question 23

what are the criticisms of retrieval failure theory

Answer 23

lacks ecological validity - not everyone can dive. their findings might not be generalisable to the wider population.
there are ethical issues with both studies - diving is a risky sport and people can have adverse reactions to antihistamine drugs

Question 24

what are the strengths of retrieval failure theory

Answer 24

it can have real life application to revision. having the right cues and triggers are needed to help us recall information. we can make use of memorable cues when revising such as mnemonics.
the use of experiments with standardised procedures means that research in this field is likely to be reliable. they theory has good application to school settings.