Theories of Forgetting Flashcards
What is trace decay?
The longer the memory is held, the more the memory trace decays and is forgotten as a consequence
What is proactive interference?
Old memories interfere with the learning of a new memory
What is retroactive interference?
New memories interfere with the recollection of an old memory
What are the strengths of the evaluations for the interference theory?
Underwood and Postman
* Interference theory is often demonstrated in psychological experiments to show both types of interference influence forgetting
* One such study comes from Underwood and Postman. Participants were divided into two groups, with group A learning word pairs then another set with varying second words, and group B learning the first word list only. They were then asked to recall the first list.
* The sudy shows that Group B’s recall of the first list was more accurate than group A’s
* This evidence supports interference theory becasue the research suggests learning in the second list interfered with participant ability to recall the list, supporting the existence of retroactive interference
Real life rugby player study
* Baddley and Hitch found support for interference theory and showed it was better than decay theory
* They asked rugby players to remember the names of the teams they had plays so far in that season, week by week. Some players played in all games and some has missed games due to injury. The time interval was the same but the number of intervening games was different.
* The results clearly showed accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place, but the number of games was a more important factor. Those who played more games forgot more of the names
* The study clearly shows the effect of interference in evryday life and gives evidence that it does not only happn with lab based tasks
Real life street name study
* Interference has been observed in everyday situations through Schmidt et al’s retroactive interference study about childhood street names
* 700 names were randomly selected from students at an elementary school and sent a questionnaire to complete. Participants were given a map of the neighbourhood with all street names replaced with numbers. The interference experienced was assessed by the number of times the people had moved in their life
* There was a positive association between number of times participants had moved house outside the neighbourhood and the number of names forgotten
* The findings suggested that learning new patterns when moving makes remembering old patterns harder, showing retroactive interference in real life situations
What are the evaluations for the weaknesses of interference theory?
Research is quite artificial
* One issue with the evidence offered in support of the theory concerns the methodology
* Most of the research has often used artificial tasks of learning words or nonsense trigrams, and because of this there is a greater chance that interference will happen more in the lab than in real life
* These tasks may not relate to everyday uses of memory which may involve things like peoples faces, birthdays etc
* This is a major limitation because research is low in ecological validity and may not be a surefire explanation for forgetting in everyday life
Time between learning and recall
* A further issue with lab studies of interference is that they are designed so that the possibility of interference is maximised
* The time between learning lists of words and recalling them is kept short
* A participant may learn one set of words and then a second set, recalling them within the same hour. The wole experience of learning may take a lot longer than this
* It is unlikely we will have to do this in real life, as usually there is a much bigger time interval between learning and recall, showing lab may not reflect real life
Interference only explains some situations of forgetting
* Interference effects seem to occur in everyday life but often don’t in actuality
* Special conditions are required for interference, such as memories being very similar. It is for that rrason that interference is considered unimportant for everyday forgetting
* Anderson concluded there is no doubt that interference plays a role in forgetting, but how much forgetting can be attributed to interference is unclear
* Suggests other theories are needed for a full explanation
What is the retrieval failure due to absence of cues theory?
Memories are inaccessible because the retrieval cues are missing, although memories are still there
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Recall is easier if it occurs in a context similar to where you learnt the information initially
When does forgetting take place in the encoding specificity principle?
When cues during learning are not present during recall (context, states and cues present differ)
What are the two types of cues?
Context dependent cues (environmental/external cues present at time of encoding)
State dependent cues (internal cues present at time of encoding, either mental or physical)
What were the aims and procedures of the Godden and Baddely study?
Aim:
* To see if recall is better when learning context is present
Procedures:
1. Diver learnt a list of words either land or underwater
2. After a short delay, the divers were tested on their recall, in either the same environment as learning or a different environment
What were the findings of the Godden and Baddely study?
- Recall was significantly better when learning and recall environments matched
- Provides evidence for the idea that external cues present during learning act as retrieval cues and aid recall of information
What was the aim and procedure of the Goodwin et al study?
Aim:
To test if state during learning affected recall
Procedure:
* Participants in the drunk condition had drank 3 times the UK drink driving limit
* Participants in the other condition were sober
* Participants learnt a word list
* They were then asked to recall the words after 24 hours in either same state as learning or different state as learning
What were the findings of the Goodwin et al study?
- Performance was best when the state at learning and recall matched
- This supports the state dependent memory theory
What is the evaluation for the strengths of retrieval failure? (other than studies)
Real world application
* You can use it to improve recall when you need to
* Research states that you can revise in room you take exams, and stay in the same state and context as learning
* Retrieval cues have also been used in cognitive interview which is used by police to obtain accurate eyewitness testimony accounts
* This theory has many useful applications in the real world, providing startegies for improving recall when taking exams and giving eyewitness testimony
What is the evaluation for the weakness of retrieval failure?
Retrieval cues do not always work
* May not be very effective
* The information you are learning about is related to a lot more than just cues. All the research that supports cues is mostly based on word lists, but when you learn theories like multistore model, or approaches, you are learning more complex material that is not as easily triggered by single cues
* Context effects are largely eliminated when learning meaningful material
* This suggests that, while the use of retrieval cues can explain some everyday forgetting, they don’t explain everything
