Retrieval failure

• Retrieval failure

  • Memory is available, just not accessible
  • Along with memory, associated cues are stored. If these appropriate cues are not present during recall, it is difficult to retrieve that memory.
  • We forget because of insufficient cues.
• Who introduced encoding specificity principle?

  Tulving
• Explain encoding specificity principle

  • If a cue is to help us recall information, it has to be present at the time of encoding (when we learn the material) and at retrieval (when we are recalling it)
  • Therefore if the cues that are available at encoding and at retrieval are different- there will be forgetting.
• Types of cues

  • Context-dependent forgetting
  • State-dependent forgetting
• Context-dependent forgetting

  • Can occur when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in when you were learning.
  • If we encode something when we are in a particular situation/location we will remember this information again when we are in the same situation/location
• State-dependent forgetting

  • Occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood you were in when you were learning.
  • Suggests that your internal bodily state (emotional or cognitive) would influence your recall.
  • E.g if we were to learn something when we feel happy, we will remember this information again when we are in the same emotional state
• Research on context dependent forgetting

  • Godden and Baddeley
  • Divers learnt a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall 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
  • Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions
• Research on state dependent forgetting

  • Carter and Cassaday
  • Gave anti-histamine drugs to participants which are mild sedatives making participants feel drowsy.
  • Creates an internal physiological state different from the normal.
  • task was to learn words and then recall was tested.
  • Learn on drug- recall when not on it
  • Learn on drug- recall when on it
  • Learn not on drug- recall when on it
  • Learn not on drug- recall when not on drug
• What did Carter and Cassidy conclude from their study?

  • In the conditions where there was a mismatch between the internal state at learning and recall, performance was significantly worse.
• Supporting evidence for context dependent forgetting

  • Abernathy found student who were tested in the same room with the same instructor scored the best in their results.
  • Suggests in order to recall information we need to ensure we recall is in the same environment in which we encoded the information. The procedure in Abernathy’s study involves students and their performance which resembles everyday life.
  • evidence from supporting studies conducted in a real-life setting have enabled retrieval failure to establish reliability and external validity
• Real life application

  • For example, an integral part of the cognitive interview is to ‘reinstate context’
  • Shows the explanation of retrieval failure plays an active role when conducted eyewitness testimonies as individuals return to the original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment. e.g what weather was like
  • Therefore this increases external validity of retrieval failure as we can see the influence of contextual cues when trying to retrieve information in the outside world
• Questioning of context effects

  • Effects of context has been questioned by cognitive psychologists
  • Baddeley argued that context effects are not actually very strong, especially within real life. Different contexts would have to be very different before an effect is seen.
  • Memory does not function in the way that has been studied. If we were to focus on learning, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are not different enough.
• Retrieval failure may be related to the kind of memory being tested

  • Godden and Baddeley replicated the underwater experiment but used a recognition tests instead of recall test. Participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them. There was no context-dependent effect, performance same in all 4 conditions.
  • If it was an accurate theory we would have seen the effect even in the recognition test. This shows the presence or absence of a cue only affects memory when you test it in a particular way.
  • Context dependent forgetting is only applicable to recall rather than recognition.