explanations for forgetting

• interference...


  is when forgetting occurs because one memory blocks another memory - this causes one or both memories to be distorted/forgotten
• what are the two different types of interference?


  proactive and retroactive
• proactive interference...


  is when forgetting occurs when older, already stored memories disrupt the recall of new memories
• what is an example of proactive interference?


  when driving abroad for the first time, you get confused at to which side of the road you're meant to be driving on as you are used to driving in the UK
• retroactive interference...


  is when forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories that are already stored
• what is an example of retroactive interference?


  when you then get confused driving in the UK because you are now used to driving on the right-hand side of the road abroad
• what are some evaluation points of the interference theory?


  constantly supported in lab experiments - high degrees of control, eliminates extraneous variables, increased internal validity

  however, this leads to a lack of mundane realism - tasks are not meaningful to participants and so lack ecological validity
• baddeley and hitch (1977)...


  wanted to compare the two explanations for forgetting (decay and interference - they asked rugby players to recall the names of teams that they played earlier in the season

  they looked at how the number of intervening games and the amount of time that had passed between the games affected recall
• what were baddeley and hitch able to show?


  that the probability of correct recall was not dependent on the passage of time but on the number of intervening games - recall for the last game was equally as good whether that last game was played yesterday or a few weeks ago
• what is a strength of baddeley and hitch's experiment?

  it was an natural experiment - high ecological validity
• what is a limitation of baddeley and hitch's experiment?


  the interference theory doesn't explain how the cognitive process occurs - difficult to distinguish between the effects of interference and other theories
• what are the two explanations for forgetting?


  interference and retrieval failure
• why does retrieval failure occur?


  because there are insufficient cues to prompt the memory
• what are the two types of forgetting?


  context-dependent forgetting

  state-dependent forgetting
• what types of cues are encoded through context-dependent forgetting?


  external cues
• what types of cues are encoded through stat-dependent forgetting?


  internal cues
• who conducted research into context-dependent forgettin?

  baddeley and godden (1975)
• baddeley and godden (1975)…


  asked a group of deep-sea divers to learn a list of words either on land or under the water - they were then asked to recall them

  the four conditions of the study were =

  • learn on land, recall on land
  • learn on land, recall under water
  • learn under water, recall on land
  • learn under water, recall under water
• what were the findings of baddeley and godden’s study?

  accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions

  the external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall, and so retrieval failure occurred
• who conducted research into state-dependent forgetting?

  carter and cassaday (1998)
• carter and cassaday (1998)…


  asked participants to learn lists of words and passages of prose, either on an anti-histamine drug (making them drowsy) or not

  the 4 conditions were =

  • learn on drug, recall on drug
  • learn on drug, recall off drug
  • learn off drug, recall on drug
  • learn off drug, recall off drug
• what were the findings of carter and cassaday’s study?


  in conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state and learn and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse
• what are some evaluation points of retrieval failure?


  • impressive range of research surrounding retrieval failure gives it good external validity
  • there are questionable context effects - the effects are not actually very strong, as different factors aren't that different (not as different as land and water for example)
  • baddeley and godden redid their experiment, asking participants to do a recognition test instead of recall - in these study, there were no context-dependent variables