forgetting: retrieval failure

• P: the wealth of research evidence that has documented the importance of retrieval cues on memory is a real strength of this explanation of forgetting

  E: such research includes lab, field and natural experiments as well as anecdotal evidence. Tulving and pearlstone, in a lab experiment, demonstrated the power of retrieval clues, while a field experiment by Abernethy demonstrated the importance of context-dependent learning among a group of students studying a course

  L: because much of the evidence has relevance to everyday memory experiences, the evidence has high ecological validity.
• P: an application for this research is to use it to improve recall when you need to, for example, when taking exams

  E: abernathy's research suggests that you ought to revise in the room where you will be taking exams. smith showed that just thinking of the room where you did the original learning was as effective as actually being in the same room at the time of retrieval.

  L: this shows how research into retrieval failure can suggest strategies for improving recall in real-world situations, such as taking exams
• P: having said you could use cues to improve your exam performance, the reality is that this is not very effective

  E: the issue is that the information youre learning is related to more than just the cues. in most research on context effects, participants learn word lists but when you are learning, you are learning about complex associations that are less easily triggered by single cues. this is called the outshining hypothesis: a cue's effectiveness is reduced by the presence of better cues.
• link for retieval cues dont always work

  L: this suggests that while the use of retrieval cues can explain instances of everyday forgetting, they dont explain everything.