Retrieval Failure Flashcards
Define Retrieval Failure
A form of Forgetting. It occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided
Define Cues
Triggers/clues which serve as a reminder to the information.
What are the two types of cues
Internal cues (State-dependent forgetting) and external cues (context-dependent forgetting)
Define internal cues
Recall thats dependent on your mood, state and emotions
Define external cues
recall that depends on the weather, place and environment
Explain Tulving’s (1983) study on retrieval failure, what was it called
He suggested that memory is most effective when cues are available, which were present at the time of encoding and at retrieval. This is known as ‘Encoding-specificity principle’
Explain Godden and Baddeley’s (1975) research on external cues
Deep sea divers learnt a list of words, they then had four different conditions:
learnt on land/ recall on land, learnt on land/recall underwater, learnt underwater/recall on land, learnt underwater/recall underwater.
What where Godden and Baddeley’s (1975) findings on his research into External cues
Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non matching conditions. They concluded that external cues at learning aided their retrieval. therefore supporting the retrieval failure theory
Explain Carter and Cassidy’s (1998) study on internal cues
P’s took an antihistamine, which is a mild sedative to make people drowsy, they then did the 4 conditions:
Learnt on drug/ recall on drug
Learnt not on drug/ recall on drug
Learnt on drug/ recall not on drug
learnt not on drug/ recall not on drug
What where Carter and Cassidy’s (1998) findings on their research into internal cues
They found that retrieval failure was worse when the two conditions didnt match and internal cues were absent.
Explain on strength of retrieval failure
One strength is that the theory is applicable to real life as everyone faces forgetting through retrieval failure.
Explain one limitation of Godden and Baddeley’s (1975) experiment.
It lacks ecological validity, this is when the study is unlikely to happen in real life.
Godden and Baddeley replicated their study in (1980) Explain their study and why their study was a limitation of retrieval failure
Drivers read a list then had to identity those words on a second list. This time there was no context-dependent forgetting and all groups performed the same. This suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation.
