Retrieval Failure

Question 1

What is the encoding specificity principle

Answer 1

Information present at time of encoding, also available at time of retrieval.

Question 2

What is context-dependent forgetting

Answer 2

When there is an absence of external/environmental cues.

Question 3

What is state-dependent forgetting

Answer 3

When there is an absence of internal cues (emotional or physiological).

Question 4

Tulving and Pearlstone- Encoding Specificity Principle

Answer 4

Procedure
- Participants had to learn 48 words belonging to 12 categories. Each word was presented as category + word. There were two different recall conditions- Free recall and Cued recall.
Results
- In the free recall condition, 40% of the words were recalled. In the cued recall, 60% were recalled.

Question 5

Godden and Baddeley- Context Dependent Failure

Answer 5

Procedure
- 18 divers from a diving club were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of two or three syllables. There are 4 conditions.
Results
- Learn on the beach, recall on the beach- 13.5
- Learn on beach, recall under water- 8.5
- Learn under water, recall on beach- 8.6
- Learn under water, recall under water- 11.4

Question 6

Goodwin et al- State Dependent Failure

Answer 6

Procedure
- There were 4 groups- Sober both days (SS), Intoxicated both days (II), Intoxicated then sober (IS), Sober then intoxicated (SI).
- The participants had to perform 4 tests- an avoidance task, a verbal rote learning task, a word association tests and a picture recognition task.
Results
- More errors were made in the IS and SI condition than in the II and SS conditions, however this was not the case for the picture recognition test. The SS participants performed best in all tasks.

Question 7

Evaluation support- Large amount of scientific research on retrieval cues

Answer 7

• One strength is there’s large amounts of scientific research on retrieval cues.
• Ev- Participants learnt 48 words belonging to 12 categories. Presented as category + word. Free recall found 40% was recalled. Cued recall found 60% were recalled.
• Ex- When given a cue recall was higher than without. Hence more retrieval failures without cues (proves the encoded specificity principle).
• However, this is a controlled lab study. The words have no semantic meaning. Maybe retrieval cues are less useful when emotive or strong meaning. Doesn’t consider the type of retrieval cue either.

Question 8

Evaluation support- Real life application on retrieval failure

Answer 8

• Another strength is that there is real life application on retrieval failure.
• Ev- 18 divers learnt lists of 36 unrelated words of 2/3 syllables. Beach learnt and recalled- 13.5, Beach learnt and ocean recalled- 8.5, Ocean learnt and recalled- 11.4, Ocean learnt and beach recall- 8.6.
• Ex- Same context. Higher recall; useful as shows you should learn and recall information in the same external context. Shows the importance of learning in examination conditions to ensure a similar context.
• However, it is not possible to conduct all learning in the same context (however can reinstate context in cognitive interview).

Question 9

Evaluation criticism- Practical issues to using strategies for using retrieval cues

Answer 9

• However, practical issues to using strategies for using retrieval cues.
• Ev- 4 groups: sober both days, intoxicated both days, sober then intoxicated, intoxicated then sober. More errors made in IS and SI condition. SS performed best in both tasks.
• Ex- Being in the same state (same internal retrieval cues) increases recall. However, unethical and impractical to place people in the same state.
• However, this does help with increasing the accuracy EWT.