retrieval failure

• retrieval failure

  form of forgetting that occurs when we don't have the necessary cues to access memory.

  memory is available but not accessible
• encoding specificity principle

  Tulving

  that if a cue is going to be useful, it has to be present at encoding (when material is learned) and present at retrieval (when material is recalled)

  if cues are different or absent at retrieval, then there will be some forgetting.

  cues can be meaningful or non-meaningful
• context-dependent forgetting

  non-meaningful cue

  recall depends on external cue

  e.g. weather or a place
• state-dependent forgetting

  non-meaningful cue

  recall depends on internal cue

  e.g. feeling upset or being drunk
• research on context-dependent forgetting - procedure

  Godden + Baddeley

  studies deep-sea divers who work underwater.

  divers learned/recalled a list of words either underwater or on land

  4 conditions:

  -> learn on land - recall on land

  -> learn on land - recall underwater

  -> learn underwater - recall underwater

  -> learn underwater - recall on land
• research on context-dependent forgetting - findings + conclusions

  accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions compared to matching conditions.

  concluded that the external cues available when learning were different to the ones available when recalling so it led to retrieval failure
• research on state-dependent forgetting - procedure

  carter + cassidy

  gave antihistamine drugs to their participants which had a mild sedative effect - creates a change in physiological state.

  participants had to learn lists of words and passages and then recall them

  4 conditions:

  -> learn on drug - recall on drug

  -> learn on drug - recall off the drug

  -> learn off the drug - recall off the drug

  -> learn off the drug - recall on drug
• research on state-dependent forgetting - findings

  in non-matching conditions between internal state at leaning an recall, performance on a memory test was worse.

  so, when cues are absent there is more forgetting
• strength - real-world application

  retrieval cues can help overcome forgetting in everyday situations

  e.g. when you go from one room thinking you need to go to another to get something and forget when you get to the second room, but when you go back to the first you remember.

  shows strategies used in the real world to improve recall
• strength - research support

  studies by Godden + Baddeley and Carter + Cassady.

  they show that a lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context and state dependent forgetting.

  argued retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting
• counterpoint - research evidence

  Baddeley argues that context effects are not actually very strong in everyday life.

  different contexts have to be very different for an effect to be seen.

  e.g. hard to find an environment as different as land + underwater.

  also, learning something in one room and recalling in another unlikely to result in forgetting as the environments aren't different enough
• limitation - recall vs recognition

  context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested.

  Godden + Baddeley replicated the underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall.

  in this study, there was no context-dependent forgetting, performance was the same in all four conditions.

  suggests retrieval failure is limited