Retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

Question 1

what are the 2 types of cue dependent forgetting

Answer 1

• Context = external environmental cues. can occur when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in when you were learning.
• State = internal cues e.g. if you were upset learning a topic, you need to be upset when retrieving the topic. occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood you were in when you were learning.

Question 2

Tulving AO1

Answer 2

• Tulving reviewed research into retrieval failure. He noticed a pattern of forgetting which he coined the ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE. Memory is most effective if information that was present at encoding is also available at time of retrieval.
• The reason we forget is due to insufficient cues.
• When we encode a new memory we also store information that occurred around it (cues), (E.g. the way we felt or the place we were in).
• If we cannot remember or recall it, it could be because we are not in a similar situation to when the memory was originally stored.
• It is not because we have forgotten it, it’s just that we don’t have the cues to help us to access the memory.

Question 3

What was the Tulving and Pearlstone Retrieval Cues Study (AO3)

Answer 3

• Participants had to learn 48 words, belonging to 12 categories (e.g. fruits, countries, etc.)
• Each word was presented as ‘category + word’. (e.g. Fruit – apple, Fruit – orange, etc.)
• There were two different recall conditions.
• Group 1: Participants recall as many words as they can (free recall).
• Group 2: Participants were given cues (the name of the category) and have to recall as many words as they can (cued recall).

Question 4

what were the findings of the Tulving and Pearlstone Retrieval Cues Study

Answer 4

• Free recall condition – 40% of words recalled on average
• Cued recall condition – 60% of words recalled on average

Question 5

what was the conclusion of the Tulving and Pearlstone Retrieval Cues Study

Answer 5

This suggests memory is most effective if information that was present at time of encoding is also available at time of retrieval.

Question 6

who studied Context-dependent forgetting

Answer 6

Godden + Baddeley
Carter + Cassidy

Question 7

what was the aim of Godden + Baddeley’s Context-dependent forgetting study

Answer 7

• investigated the effect of environment on recall.

Question 8

what was the procedure of Godden + Baddeley’s Context-dependent forgetting study

Answer 8

• 18 divers from a diving club were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of two or three syllables
  4 conditions :
• Learn on beach recall on beach
• Learn on beach recall under water
• Learn under water recall on beach
• Learn under water recall under water

Question 9

what were the results of Godden + Baddeley’s Context-dependent forgetting study

Answer 9

• Learn on beach recall on beach = 13.5
• Learn on beach recall under water = 8.6
• Learn under water recall on beach = 8.6
• Learn under water recall under water = 11.4

Question 10

what was the conclusion of Godden + Baddeley’s Context-dependent forgetting study

Answer 10

• Participants decreased in accuracy of recall when the participant’s original state didn’t match their state during encoding and retrieval.
• If the context matches, recall is higher + memory is more efficient
• Supports the theory of retrieval failure

Question 11

who studied state dependent forgetting

Answer 11

Goodwin et al
Carter + Cassidy

Question 12

what was the procedure of Goodwin et al’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 12

• forty-eight male medical students participated on day 1 in a training session and on day 2 in a testing. They were randomly assigned to four groups:
• Group1: (SS) was sober on both days.
• Group 2: (AA) was intoxicated both days.
• Group 3: (AS) was intoxicated on day 1 and sober on day 2.
• Group 4: (SA) was sober on day 1 and intoxicated on day 2.
• The intoxicated groups had 111 mg/100 ml alcohol in their blood. They all showed signs of intoxication.
• The Participants had to perform 4 tests: - an avoidance task
• a verbal rote-learning task
• a word-association test
• a picture recognition task.

Question 13

what were the results of Goodwin et al’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 13

• More errors were made on day 2 in the AS and SA condition than in the AA or SS conditions, however this was not the case for the picture recognition test.
• The SS participants performed best in all tasks.

Question 14

what was the conclusion of Goodwin et al’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 14

• this supports the state-dependent memory theory as the performance was best in the participants who were sober or intoxicated on both days.

Question 15

what was the aim of Carter and Cassidy’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 15

investigated the effect of your physiological state on recall.

Question 16

what was the procedure of Carter and Cassidy’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 16

• Gave anti-histamine drugs or a placebo to participants. As anti-histamines have a mild side-effect of causing drowsiness.
• Participants had to learn words in 4 conditions.
• Learn on drug recall on drug
• Learn not on drug recall on drug
• Learn on drug recall not on drug
• Learn not on drug recall not on drug

Question 17

what were the results of Carter and Cassidy’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 17

In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.

Question 18

what was the conclusion of Carter and Cassidy’s state dependent forgetting study

Answer 18

When cues are absent (eg drowsy when recalling but sober when learning) then there is more forgetting.

Question 19

what are the AO3 points for research evidence

Answer 19

• There is a wealth of research that has been conducted that show support for the process of retrieval failure in forgetting.
• This includes lab, field, and natural experiments.
• For example studies by Goddden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassidy.
• This is a strength of retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting because supporting evidence increases the validity of an explanation.
• This is even more the case when evidence comes from real-life situations we well as lab studies.

Question 20

what are the AO3 points for Retrieval failure have useful real-life applications such as studying in schools and recalling evidence in court.

Answer 20

• This is used as a strategy to improve recall in eye-witness memory when the witnesses are asked to describe their mood/emotional state (state-dependent) and also the context i.e. linked events (context dependent) when the incident they have witnessed took place (cognitive interview).
• Abernathy (1940) found that students performed better in tests if the tests took place in the same room as the learning of the material had taken place, and were administered by the same instructor who had taught the information.