Retrieval failure Flashcards
What is 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
What is a cue?
a ‘trigger’ of information that allows us to access a memory. Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning. Indirect cues may be external (environmental context) or internal (mood or degree of drunkenness)
What does the encoding specificity principle state?
That a cue has to be both present at encoding and also present at retrieval.
It follows from this that if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different there will be some forgetting.
Some cues are encoded at the time of learning in a meaningful way. For example, the cue ‘STM’ may lead you to recall all sorts of information about short-term memory.
What are the non-meaningful reasons for forgetting?
Context-dependent forgetting - recall depends on external cue (i.e. the place)
State-dependent forgetting - recall depends on internal cue (i.e. type of arousal)
Why does it appear a memory has been forgotten?
As the memory is inaccessible due to the lack of cues to trigger recall, but the memories are available.
Goddon and Baddeley (1975) procedure
They carried out a study of deep-sea divers working underwater. In this study, the divers learned a list of words either on land or underwater, and then were asked to recall the words either on land or underwater. This therefore created four conditions:
1. Learn on land – recall on land
2. Learn on land – recall underwater
3. Learn underwater – recall on land
Learn underwater – recall underwater
Carter and Cassaday (1998) procedure
They gave anti-histamine drugs (for treating hay fever) to their participants. These had a mild sedative effect, making the participants slightly drowsy. This creates a different internal state to the ‘normal’ state of being awake and alert. The participants learned lists of words and a passage of prose and then recalled the information. This was done in four conditions:
1. Learn on drug – recall on drug
2. Learn on drug – recall when not on it
3. Learn when not on drug – recall on drug
Learn when not on drug – recall when not on drug
Supporting research - Godden and Baddeley (1975) and what it shows
There has been an impressive range of research supporting retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting. The studies by Godden and Baddeley; Carter and Cassaday are excellent examples of this research. Godden and Baddeley found that accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching context conditions. The external cues available at learning (encoding) were different from those at recall (retrieval) which led to retrieval failure. Carter and Cassaday found that in the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse. The internal cues available at learning (encoding) were absent at recall (retrieval), which led to retrieval failure.
This research supports the validity of the retrieval failure explanation. This is especially true as the evidence suggests that retrieval failure occurs in real-life situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab.
Weakness - temporary forgetting and what it shows
The loss of the information may only be temporary. Retrieval failure theory suggests that the information is still available, it is just inaccessible. This lack of accessibility may be temporary.
Therefore, the theory may not be a true explanation of forgetting.
Real world application - reinstate the context (cognitive interview) and what it shows
It has been shown that eyewitness testimony can be improved using a technique called the cognitive interview. This technique has a number of stages, one of which is asking the eyewitness to reinstate the context by returning to the original crime scene in their mind, and imagine the environment (such as the weather, what they could see) and their emotions (such as what were their feelings) before asking them to recall what happened. The cognitive interview has been successful with many studies reporting an increase in correct information after use of the technique Milne and Bull found it make testimonies 65% more accurate.
Weakness of Goddon and Baddeley supporting research and what it shows
The context effect may be related to the kind of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall. Participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from the list, instead of having to retrieve it themselves. When recognition was tested there was no context dependent effect; performance was the same in all four conditions.
This suggests that the study can’t provide very strong support for the retrieval failure theory as the type of memory test used in the study may not generalise to all other situations. It also suggests that the presence or absence of cues only affects memory when you test it in a certain way, so the explanation isn’t a completely valid explanation of forgetting.
