Forgetting

• What are the two explanations of forgetting?


  • interference
  • retrieval failure
• Interference definition


  A type of forgetting where one memory disrupts another, resulting in the forgetting of one or both, or causing memories to be distorted.
• When is interference the strongest?

  When two memories are similar.
• What are the two types of inference?

  • Proactive interference (PI)
  • Retroactive interference (RI)
• What is proactive interference? Give an example

  • When an older memory interferes with a new one
  • For example, calling your new SO by your ex's name
• What is retroactive interference? Give an example

  • When a new memory interferes with an old one.
  • For example, a teacher saying a new students name to an older student.
• Explain why interference is strongest when two memories are similar.

  • With proactive interference, previously stored information makes new information harder to store.
  • With retroactive interference, new information overwrites similar memories due to the similarity.
• Inference evaluation

  McGeoch & McDonald

  • Gave ppts a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy
  • They were then asked to learn a new list which was varied, some were synonyms or unrelated words or digits
  • They found that participants who had learnt a list of synonyms had the worst recall
  • Artificial study ---> lacks ecological validity
• What is retrieval failure?

  A form of forgetting that occurs when we don't have the necessary cues to access a memory.
• What is a cue?


  A trigger of information that allows us to access a memory.
• What does the encoding specificity principle (ESP) propose?


  • Proposes that when we learn the information, we also encode the context (external cues) in which we learn the information and the mental state we are in (internal cues).
  • These can act as cues to recall.
• What are the two types of cues?

  • Context dependent forgetting
  • State dependent forgetting
• What is context dependent forgetting? Give an example

  • Can occur when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in when you were learning.
  • Having a room swap one lesson and ending up in a new room and then not being able to remember an answer to a question you learnt last lesson.
• Who conducted research into context-dependent forgetting? What was the procedure and findings?


  • Godden & Baddeley
  • Deep sea divers were given either a learned list of words underwater or on land and were then asked to recall underwater or on land

  4 conditions:

  • learn on land recall on land
  • learn on land recall in water
  • learn in water recall in water
  • learn in water recall on land

  
  

  • Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions & ppts with matched conditions performed better
• What is state-dependent forgetting? Give an example


  • Occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood you were in when you were learning
  • E.g. putting you keys somewhere while you were drunk, forgetting where you put them when sober, then remembering where they are when drunk again.
• Who conducted research into state-dependent forgetting? What was the procedure and what were the findings?

  • Carter & Cassaday
  • Gave antihistamines (hay fever drugs) that create a mild sedative effect that make people drowsy
  • ppts had to learn a list of words and then recall

  4 conditions:

  • learn on drug recall on drug
  • learn on drug recall in normal state
  • learn in normal state recall in normal state
  • learn in normal state recall on drug

  
  

  • mismatched conditions caused ppts to perform significantly worse on recall tests
• Evaluate retrieval failure


  + Research support from Godden & Baddeley

  • Environmental difference needs to be extreme for forgetting to occur
  • :( lacks ecological validity

  Environmental difference needs to be extreme for forgetting to occur:—Godden & Baddeley lacks ecological validty:Godden & Baddeley lacks ecological validty
• what are the factors affecting EWTs?

  • Misleading information
  • Anxiety
  • The cognitive interview
• What are the two types of misleading information?

  • Leading questions
  • Post-event discussion (PED)
• What is a leading question? Give an example?

  • A question phrased in a certain way to provoke a certain answer
  • Was the knife in his left hand?
• Who conducted research into leading questions?


  Loftus & Palmer (1974)
• What was the procedure of Loftus & Palmer's study?

  • 45 American students formed an opportunity sample and each was placed into 1 of 5 conditions
  • Ppts had to watch a film and were then asked to describe what happened as if they were eyewitnesses.
  • They were then asked the critical question: About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?
  • In each of the 5 conditions, the verb was changed to be either contacted, smashed, collided, bumped or hit.
• What were the findings of Loftus & Palmer's study?

  • Ppts who were asked the 'smashed' question thought the cars were going faster then those who were asked the 'hit' question
  • Ppts in 'smashed' condition reported the highest speed estimate (40.8 mph), followed by 'collided' (39 mph), bumped (38 mph), hit (34 mph), contacted (32 mph)
• What were the conclusions drawn by Loftus & Palmer?

  Response bias explanation:

  • Leading questions doesn't change the memory, but influences how individuals answer the question

  Substitution explanation:

  • Leading questions actually changes the memory. Loftus & Palmer conducted a second experiment where ppts who had the word 'smashed' reported seeing broken glass when there wasn't.
• What is post-event discussion (PED)?

  • Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event.
  • Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people.
  • This may influence the accuracy of each witness's recall of the event.
• Who conducted research into PED?

  Gabbert (2003)
• What was the procedure & what were the findings of Gabbert's study?

  • Ppts in pairs and each watch the same crime but from different POVs which meant that each ppt could see elements of the crime the other couldn't.
  • They then discussed the crime before attempting a recall test.
  • 71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they did not see which they had picked up in discussion.
  • In the control group, 0% of ppts recalled the wrong information.
• What conclusions did Gabbert draw?

  Source monitoring theory:

  • Memories of the event are genuinely distorted & eyewitnesses can recall information but they can't recall where the information came from.

  Conformity theory:

  • Memories are not actually distorted but eyewitnesses recall changes only because they go along with co-witnesses to win social approval or because they genuinely believe other co-witnesses are right.
• Evaluate research into misleading questions?

  • :( Lab studies (lacks ecological validity)
  • :( Lab studies (demand characteristics)
  • :) Practical applications (EWTs used less in court, now forensic evidence & CCTV)
• What is anxiety?

  • A state of emotional and physical arousal.
• Why does anxiety affect EWTs?


  • stressful situations, such as witnessing crimes and accidents cause anxiety.
  • When we are anxious, we experience physiological and psychological changes that affect our recall.
• What are the two theories on how anxiety affects EWT?

  • Negative effect: when we are anxious, we pay less attention to important cues, so recall is worse.
  • Positive effect: when we are anxious, we pay more attention to important cues, so recall is better.
• Who conducted research into the negative effect? What was the procedure and findings?

  • Johnson & Scott
  • A lab study where ppts were seated in a waiting room and heard a commotion.
  • In the low anxiety condition, a man walks out carrying a pen
  • In the high anxiety condition, a man walks out carrying a knife covered in blood
  • 49% of ppts in low anxiety condition picked the correct man out of a set of 50 photos
  • 33% in high anxiety condition
  • Supports negative effect and that EWTs accuracy decreases due to weapons focus effect/ tunnel theory.
• Who conducted research into the positive effect? What was the procedure & findings?

  • Yuille & Cutshall
  • Study of a real life shooting at a gun store in Canada
  • 13 witnesses were interviews 4-5 months after & report was compared to original police shooting.
  • Witnesses were also asked to rate their level of stress using a 7 point scale.
  • Little change in accuracy after 5 months.
  • Ppts who had the highest level of stress were more accurate by 13%.
  • Supports positive effect & increased accuracy is due to the fight or flight response which increases alertness.
• What does Yerkes Dodson Law suggest?

  • That if people are underaroused or overaroused, their performance will suffer and medium arousal is optimum for the highest performance (inverted U theory)

  
• evaluate research into anxiety affecting EWTs


  • lab studies (artificial & lacks ecological validty)
  • contradictory evidence BUT this could be explained by Yerkes-Dodson Law (When a crime is witnessed, a person becomes emotionally (anxiety) and physiologically (adrenaline release) aroused Low levels of arousal (anxiety) are associated with low levels of performance (recall and accuracy of EWT) As arousal increases performance increases up to an optimum

  After this point, as arousal continues, performance begins to decrease))

  + Yuille & Cutshall has great ecological validity as it is a natural study (but lack control & many extraneous variables)
• What is the cognitive interview (CI)?


  • A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
  • It is based on psychological insights and research into how memory works and uses 4 main techniques.
• What are the 4 main techniques of CI?


  • Report everything
  • Reinstate context
  • Recall in reverse order
  • Change perspective
• Describe what happens in 'recall everything'

  • Witness reports every single detail of an event, even if thought to be irrelevant.
  • Trivial details may act as cues which help to trigger the retrieval of other detail.
• Describe what happens in 'reinstate context'

  • Mentally recreate the environment and personal context of the crime in the mind of the witness.
  • This is done through sights, sounds, smells, feelings and emotions.
  • This technique is linked to retrieval failure as context may provide cues.