Forgetting: Retrieval failure

• Cues are triggers which serve as a reminder to the information
• Retrieval failure:

  • Forgetting due to an absence of cues.
  • The memory is available but not accessable
• Encoding-speciality principle:

  • Tulving
  • suggested memory is the most effective when aided by cues which were present at the time of encoding or at retrieval
• Two types of cues:

  • Context dependent forgetting
  • state-dependent forgetting
• Context dependent forgetting cues:

  recall depends on external cues - weather, place environment
• State-dependent forgetting cues:

  Recall depends on internal cues - mood, state
• Which two groups of researchers studied retrieval failure:

  • Godden and Badderley
  • Carter and Cassidy
• Godden and Baddeley:

  • deep sea divers
  • learned a list of words under different circumstances
  • learnt on land - recalled on land
  • learnt on land - recalled underwater
  • learnt underwater - recalled on land
  • learnt underwater - recalled underwater
  • Found that when the environment was the same they recalled much better
• Carter and Cassidy:

  • antihistamine drug given to participants
  • mild sedative effects
  • learnt list of words under different circumstances
  • learnt on drug - recalled on drug
  • learnt on drug - recalled not on drug
  • learnt not on drug - recalled on the drug
  • learnt not on drug - recalled not on the drug
• Strength of retrieval failure: Research support

  Both Godden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassidy's research can be used to support this
• Limitation of retrieval failure:

  • The effect of context-dependent forgetting are dependent on what type of memory is being tested
  • Godden and Baddeley re-did their study but had a recognition test instead of a recall test
  • They found no effects of context-dependent forgetting
  • This shows that it only applies to recall not recognition
• Strength: Real-life application

  • context-dependent forgetting
  • Often if you have misplaced something, you go back into the room you last saw it to trigger a cue
  • This means that context-dependent forgetting is supported by strategies used in everday life