Retrieval Failure AO3

• +One strength: retrieval cues can help overcome forgetting in everyday situations. Baddeley suggests cues are still worth paying attention to even if they don't have a strong effect on forgetting. eg. go to room b to get something, forget, come back to room a, remember what you wanted. This shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall.
• -One limitation: it may depend substantially on the type of memory being tested. Godden & Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment using a recognition test instead of recall - whether they recognised a word read to them from their list. There was no context dependent effect, recognition was the same in all 4 conditions. This suggests retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting and only applies when a person has to recall, not recognise.
• +One strength the range of research supporting retrieval failure. Godden & Baddeley and Carter & Cassady show a lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context and state dependant forgetting in everyday life. Eysenck & Keane argue retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting in LTM. This evidence shows retrieval failure happens in labs as well as real life situations.
• +-Baddeley argues context effects are fairly weak. Learning something in one room and recalling it in another isn't a major change and is unlikely to result in forgetting. Therefore retrieval failure due to a lack of cues (contextual) may not explain much everyday forgetting.