A03

• What are the strengths of retrieval failure?

  1. Supporting research evidence
  2. Real-life applications
• What are the limitations of retrieval failure?

  1. Problems with encoding specificity principle
  2. Recall versus recognition
• Strength = supporting research evidence

  • Considerable research documenting importance of retrieval failure
  • Includes lab, field and natural experiments
  • Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) carried out a lab experiment which demonstrated the power of retrieval cues on memory
  • Godden and Baddeley (1975) demonstrated the importance of context-dependent learning among a group of deep sea divers using a field experiment
  • HOWEVER - Baddeley (1997) argues contexts must differ significantly (e.g. land and sea)
• Strength = real-life application

  • Research into retrieval failure can be used to improve recall in everyday examples, e.g. taking exams
  • Abernathy (1940) found that students performed better on a test when they took the test in the same room and with the same instructor as when they learnt the information
  • Suggests that you ought to revise in the room where you will be taking the exams
  • This may be unrealistic but it has been shown that just thinking of the room where you did the original learning was just as effective
• Limitation = problems with encoding specificity principle

  • Encoding specificity principle is impossible to test
  • According to the encoding specificity principle if a stimulus leads to the retrieval of a memory then it must have been encoded in memory and if not then it cannot have been encoded in memory
  • However, it is impossible to test for an item that hasn’t been encoded in memory
  • The relationship between encoding and cues and later retrieval is correlational
• Limitation = recall versus recognition

  • Context effect may not apply to all types of memory
  • Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall
  • When recognition was tested there was no context-dependent forgetting and performance was the same in all four conditions
  • This suggests that the presence or absence of cues only affects memory when tested in a certain way