Tulving and Psotka (1971) Forgetting in LTM

Question 1

Method

Answer 1

• Compared the theories of interference and cue-dependent forgetting,
• Each participant given either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 lists of 24 word,
• Each list was divided into 6 categories of 4 words,
• Words were presented in category order,
• After the lists were presented, in one condition, participants had to recall all the words (total free recall),
• In another condition, participants were given all the category names and had to try to recall words from the list - free cued recall.

Question 1

Results

Answer 1

• In total free recall condition, seemed to be evidence of retroactive interference,
• Participants with 1 or 2 lists to remember had higher recall than those with more lists to remember, suggesting the later lists were interfering with remembering earlier lists.

Question 2

Conclusion

Answer 2

• Results suggest that interference had not caused forgetting because the memories became accessible if a cue was used, it showed that they were available, just inaccessible,
• Forgetting shown in the total free recall condition was cue-dependent forgetting.

Question 3

Evaluation

Answer 3

• Laboratory experiment; highly controlled; reducing effect of extraneous variables,
• Lacks ecological validity; setting and task = artificial,
• Study only tested memory of words, results can’t be reliably generalised to information of other types.