Retrieval Failure

• what is retrieval failure?


  the inability to remember a memory due to the absence of cues

  memories are available but not accessible
• who proposed the encoding specificity principle?


  Tulving & Thomson
• what is the Encoding Specificity Principle?

  Memory retrieval is more effective when cues present during encoding are also present during retrieval.
• what is context dependant forgetting?


  Memory retrieval is influenced by the context in which the information was learned.

  forgetting due to chande of environment
• Context-dependant forgetting:

  Abernethy - alternative between same teacher, different teacher, same room, different room. recall is most effect with same teacher and the same room.

  she also found that superior students adapted better than inferior students

  Godden & Baddeley - scuba divers -> underwater & land.
• what is state dependant forgetting?


  Memory retrieval is better when the individual is in the same state of consciousness as when the memory was formed.

  forgetting due to change of mental & physical state.
• State dependant forgetting

  Goodwin et al. - drunk + sober people. drunk ppl were 3 times over drinking limit. recalled words & came back 24 hours later. best recall in same state as encoding
• what are cues?


  a prompt/reminder that enable a person to remember something
• Tulving & Pearlstone - pps had to learn 48 words in 12 categories (e.g. fruit-apple, fruit-orange). there were two conditions, free recall (40%) and cued recall (60%).

  evidence that cues that are implicitly /explicitly encoded has a meaningful link to learning material.
• AO3: A lot of research support

  • there is a wealth of research that has been conducted, lab (Tulving & Pearlstone), field (Abernethy)

  much of the evidence has relevance to everyday memories, so high ecological validity.
• AO3: Real World Application

  • an application of this is for exam
  • Abernethy - revise in the room of which you will be taking the exam
  • Smith - just thinking of the room where you did the original learning (mental reinstatement) was just as effective as Abernethy's research.

  can be helpful + suggest strategies for improving recall in RWA -> exams & EWT
• AO3: retrieval cues do not always work

  • the information you are learning is related to more than just cues
  • pps learn word lists, but when learning, you are learning complex associations that are less triggered by cues

  suggests that retrieval failure can explain instances of everyday forgetting, but cannot explain everything.
• AO3: relationship between encoding cues & retrieval failure is just correlational not a cause

  • Nairne + Baddeley- 'myth of encoding-retrieval match'
  • encoding specificity principle is impossible to test as it is circular
  • if the stimulus leads to the retrieval of memory then it must have been encoded, if it does not lead to retrieval of memory, then it cannot have been encoded in memory.