Retrieval failure : explanation for forgetting

• limitation - different studies test different kinds of memory.

  • baddeley and godden replicated the experiment but used a recognition test.
  • there was no context-dependant failure.
  • the presence and absence of cues only effects memory in a specific way
• strength - dependant forgetting has real world application


  • practical use in the criminal justice system.
  • police have found it is useful in helping to solve crime
  • reinserting the context of the crime to help jog people's memory with retrieval cues
• strength - research to support dependant forgetting


  Godden and baddeley's

  • increases the validity
  • shows that retrieval failure occurs in real life situations as well as highly controlled lab
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  • Michael Eyenck (2010)
  • argues that retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting from the LTM
  • Evidence shows that RF occurs in real life
  • life situations as well as highly controlled lab
• State-dependant forgetting - FINDINGS

  a mismatch between internal state when learning and recalling.

  • Performance on memory test was significantly worse.
  • when the cues were absent there is more forgetting
• State-dependant forgetting - PROCEDURE

  CARTER AND CASSADAY

  • game anti-histamine drugs to participants.
  • participants had to learn lists of words and passages and then recall information
• State-dependant forgetting

  depends on the internal state of the participants when the encoding takes place, recall is easier in the same state
• context dependent forgetting - findings

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

  - the external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall and this led to retrieval.
• context dependent forgetting - PROCEDURE

  GODDEN AND BADDELEY (1975)

  - divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then they were asked to recall instructions given to them on land.

  - 4 conditions
• Context dependant forgetting

  depends on the environment in which the encoding takes place and how it acts as a cue remembering the same environment
• Tulving's consistent patterns in retrieval failure


  Encoding specificity principle

  • if a cue is to help us recall information then it must be present at encoding and retrieval
  • cause are linked to the material to be remembered in a meaningful way- smells, emotions etc
  • the stronger the hint the easier it is to recall memory