forgetting

• interference is a theory of forgetting which states that forgetting results when 2 pieces of info disrupt each other- memories aren’t gone, we’ve just lost access to them
• proactive interference occurs when any older memories interfere with newer ones
• retroactive interference occurs when a newer memory interferes with an older one
• interference is more likely to occur if memories are Similar- supported by mcgeoch and McDonald’s research
• retrieval failure is a theory of forgetting that states that information is lost due to a lack of retrieval cues, lack of accessability rather than availability
• retrieval failure states that memory is most effective if info that was present at encoding is also available at time of retrieval
• context dependent forgetting is when the context in which the information was learned affects the recall of the information, more likely to forget if the environment where info is encoded is different to where its recalled
• state dependent forgetting is when recall is dependent on internal cues such as mood, tiredness, stress, more likely to forget if your in a different state when you encoded info and when you recall
• research into state dependent forgetting- Carter and Cassidy:

  • participants who recalled words in the same state which they learnt them (on drugs or not on drugs) had better recall
• research into context dependent forgetting- godden and baddely:

  • participants who recalled word lists in the a different condition which they learnt them (underwater or on land) had 40% lower recall than pps who learnt and recalled words in the same condition
• real world evidence of interference: asked rugby players the names of the teams they had played throughout the season, some had missed matches due to injury. players who had played the most matches had the worst recall because they had the most interference for memory
• limitation of retrieval failure - may be dependent on the type of memory being tested. on a recognition test (rather than recall) recognition was the same in all conditions, suggests cues don't help all memories