theories of forgetting

Question 1

what are some strengths of interference as a theory of forgetting?

Answer 1

1. real-world interference - Baddeley and Hitch - rugby players asked to recall people they played against in a season, those who played most games (most interference for memory) had poorest recall, suggesting new memories interfered with recalling old ones - an example of retroactive interference, therefore, interference has high ecological validity as it can be used in real life scenarios

Question 2

what are some weaknesses of interference as a theory of forgetting?

Answer 2

2. conditions for interference to occur is rare, material has to be similar and short span of time between each scenario to have an effect on memory - most forgetting may be better explained by other theories like retrieval failure
3. interference is temporary - can be overcome using cues so interference only causes a temporary loss of accessibility but still in LTM

Question 3

what are some strengths of retrieval failure as a theory of forgetting?

Answer 3

1. wide range of research that supports retrieval failure as an explanation, examples like Godden and Baddeley show how lack of cues at recall lead to context and state-dependent forgetting, furthemore, memory researchers found retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM, shows how it occurs in real world situations and not just lab experiments
2. retrieval cues can help overcome some forgetting in everyday situations, in everyday situations, we use strategies to improve our recall, like revising for an exam, or recall for ewt by reinstating the context using the cognitive interview

Question 4

what are some weaknesses of retrieval failure as a theory of forgetting?

Answer 4

2. however, Baddeley argues that context effects are not that strong especially in everyday life, different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting as the environments are generally not different enough, may not actually explain much about everyday forgetting
3. context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested, Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater study but used a recognition test instead of recall, there was no context-dependent effect, performance was the same in all 4 conditions, suggests it’s a limited explanation as only applies when a person has to recall rather than recognition