Forgetting: Interference + retrieval failure

• What is interference theory in memory?

  Confusion of two lots of information
• How does interference theory explain forgetting in long-term memory (LTM)?

  One memory blocks another, causing distortion
• What is proactive interference?

  Old memories affect recall of new information
• What is retroactive interference?

  New memories affect recall of old information
• What did McGeoch and McDonald study?

  • Retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
  • learn a list of 10 words until remembered with 100% accuracy
  • Learn a new list with different conditions
• What did McDonald and McGeoch find?

  They found that the most similar material produced the worst recall
• What did McDonald and McGeoch conclude from their study?

  That interference is strongest when the memories are similar
• A strength of the interference theory is that there are real life studies to support it. Discuss and explain.

  • Baddeley wanted to find out if interference was a better explanation for forgetting than the passage of time
  • Asked rugby players to try and remember all game fixtures at end of season
  • Results shown that the number of games affected recall
  • Can be applied to all real-life scenarios
• What does Retrieval Failure theory argue?

  Forgetting occurs without appropriate cues
• What is the role of cues in memory retrieval according to the Encoding specificity principle?

  Cues must be present at both retrieval and encoding
• What does cue-dependent forgetting refer to?

  Forgetting due to absence of retrieval cues
• What is context-dependent forgetting?

  Forgetting related to the environment during recall
• How does state-dependent forgetting occur?

  Forgetting when in a different state than learning
• What was the aim of Godden and Baddeley's (1975) study?

  • To investigate context-dependent memory
  • To see if learning underwater affects recall
• What was the result of the study regarding accurate recall?

  Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching contexts
• Why did retrieval failure occur in Godden and Baddeley's study?

  External cues at learning differed from recall
• There is real life applications for the retrieval failure theory. Discuss and Explain

  • Baddeley suggests that context related cues are important to pay attention to
  • Probably worth making the effort to try and recall the environment in which you have learned it first
  • Basic principle for cognitive interviews
• There are problems with the encoding specificity principle. Explain

  • The ESP leads to a form of circular reasoning
  • If a cue does not result in successful recall of a word, then the cue was not encoded at the time of learning
  • There is no way to independently establish whether or not the cue was actually encoded