Retrieval failure

Question 1

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 1

Tulving and Thomson 1973
Memory is most effective if info that was present at encoding is also available at time of retrieval
Cue doesn’t have to be exactly right but closer the cue is to original item, more useful it will be

Question 2

Procedures of the 1966 Tulving and Pearlstone study?

Answer 2

• participants learned 48 words in 12 categories
• two different recall conditions:
  1. Free recall - recall as many words as possible
  2. Cued recall - given cues in form of category names
• free recall: 40% of words recalled on average
• cued recall: 60% of words recalled
  When info is learned, environmental context and emotional state is remembered. Being reminded of place/mood can act as cues to trigger/help access a memory

Question 3

What is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 3

• Abernethy 1940
• students tested before a certain course began
• four experimental conditions
• those tested by same instructor in the same room performed best
• presumably familiar things (room and instructor) acted as memory cues

Question 4

What is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 4

• mental state you are in at time of learning can act as a cue
• Goodwin et al 1969: male volunteers remembered list of words when either drunk or sober
• asked to recall lists after 24hrs when some were sober. Others had to get drunk again
• info learned when drunk more available when in same state later

Question 5

Evaluation? ✅

Answer 5

• Tulving and Pearlstone 1966 demonstrated power of retrieval clues in a lab experiment
• Abernethy 1940 demonstrated importance of context dependent forgetting in a field experiment
• much of the evidence had relevance to everyday memory experiences, therefore has high ecological validity

Question 6

Evaluation? ✅

Answer 6

• application of research is to use it to improve recall, e.g. when taking exams
• Abernethy: suggests you ought to revise in room where you take the exam
• Smith 1979: supports this, just thinking of the room where original learning occurred can be as effective as being in the room at same time of retrieval
• shows that research into retrieval failure can suggest strategies for improving recall in real world situations

Question 7

Evaluation? ❌

Answer 7

• relationships between encoding cues and later retrieval is a correlation rather than cause
• Naime 2002: myth of encoding retrieval match
• Baddeley 1997: encoding specificity principle is impossible to test because it’s circular
• cues do not cause retrieval, they are just associated with retrieval