Retrieval Failure

• Support from Godden & Baddeley (1975) who found that divers improved their recall when using context-dependent cues.
• Godden & Baddeley (1975) found that when learning and recall was in the same context, memory was better.
• Godden & Baddeley (1975) had high ecological validity as it was conducted in a real-life setting.
• Carter & Cassaday (1998) gave antihistamine drugs to their participants creating a different internal physiological state to normal.
• Carter & Cassaday (1998) found when participants were in the same state for learning and recall, memory was better.
• Aggleton & Waskett (1999) found that smell can act as a cue in helping people remember more.
• Cues can help people retrieve information and have useful applications in real life.
• Cues can aid memory recall, and can be applied to useful strategies for students to learn.
• Eysenck & Keane (2010) suggest that retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting in LTM.
• Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are not very strong, as many times we learn and recall information in different contexts.
• More research is needed into how cues are encoded in memory.
• Baker et al (2004) conducted the gum-gum study and found support for state-dependent forgetting.
• Changing someone's state to test state-dependency can be unethical at times.
• Helpful to forensic and police work as it can facilitate recall from eye witnesses more effectively.