Retrieval failure

• What is retrieval failure

  absence of cue’s when recalling leads to failure to access information
• what is the encoding specificity principle as part of retrieval failure

  Cue must be present at learning and recalling, forgetting is where cues are absent.

  external cue’s are context dependant like weather

  Internal cues are state dependent like mood
• Research into external cue’s for retrieval failure

  Divers learnt word lists and had to recall in 4 conditions: learn land recall land, learn land recall water, learn water recall land, learn water recall water > found accurate recall 40% lower in non matching conditions because external cues were missing
• research into internal cues for retrieval failure

  Drug recall study 4 conditions > learn drugged recall drugged, learn drugged recall sober, learn sober recall drugged, learn sober recall sober. Found less accurate recall in non matching conditions because internal cue’s absent
• strength of retrieval failure: real world application

  retrieval cue’s explain everyday forgetting > get food from kitchen but when in kitchen forget why there > tells us to return to original environment for cue to remember
• strength of retrieval failure: supporting studys

  both research studies into cue’s show existence of retrieval failure. however context effects are not often strong enough in everyday life the 2 environments or states would have to be very different
• weakness of retrieval failure: different types of memory

  diver study replicated using recognition not recall (prompts vs no prompt) > no context effects all conditions performed same > only explains recall tasks