Explanations for forgetting: retrieval failure

• What is retrieval failure?

  • When information is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time
  • If the cues are not available at the time of retrieval, you might not access memories that are actually there
• What are cues?

  A cue is a trigger of information that allows us to access memory.This could be an external cue (environmental context) or an internal cue (mood).
• What is the encoding specificity principle?

  • If a cue is to help us recall information it must be present at encoding and retrieval
  • If the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different there will be some some forgetting
  • Some cues are linked to material to be remembered in a meaningful way, e.g. mnemonics
  • Other cues are also encoded at the time of learning but not in a meaningful way. Two examples of non-meaningful cues: context or state dependent forgetting
• Who proposed the encoding specificity principle?

  Endel Tulving (1983)
• What is context dependent forgetting?

  • recall depends on an external cue (e.g. weather or place)
• What is state-dependent forgetting?

  • recall depends on internal cue (e.g. feeling upset, being drunk)
• Who conducted a context-dependent forgetting study?

  Godden and Baddeley
• What was Godden and Baddeley's procedure?

  Divers learnt a list of words either underwater or on land and asked to recall....

  • learnt on land - recall on land
  • learnt on land - recall underwater
  • learnt underwater - recall on land
  • learnt underwater - recall underwater
• What were Godden and Baddeley's findings?

  Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions.
• What were Godden and Baddeley's conclusions?

  The external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall and this lead to retrieval failure.
• Who conducted a state-dependent forgetting study?

  Carter and Cassaday
• What was Carter and Cassaday's procedure?

  Gave anti-histamine drugs to make ppts slightly drowsy. Learnt a list of words and prose and asked to recall the information.

  • learnt on drug - recall on drug
  • learnt on drug - recall when not on drug
  • learnt not on drug - recall when on drug
  • learnt not on drug - recall when not on drug
• What were Carter and Cassaday's findings?

  In conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state and learning and recall, performance was worse.
• What were Carter and Cassaday's conclusions?

  When the cue is absent (e.g. feeling drowsy) there is more forgetting.
• Strength of retrieval failure:

  P- One strength of retrieval failure is that it has real world application

  E- The explanation has face validity, when we go into a room to get something but forget what it was, we can remember it by going back to the original room.

  E- When we struggle to recall something it helps to make the effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first

  L- This shows us that research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall
• Strength: research support

  P- Another strength of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting is that there is a wide range of supporting evidence

  E- Godden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassaday show lack of cues at recall leads to everyday forgetting

  E- Eysenck and Keane argue retrieval failure is likely to be the main reason for forgetting in LTM

  L- This shows that retrieval failure experiences in everyday life can be replicated in lab settings, adding reliability to the explanation.
• Counterpoint:

  P- Baddeley argued that different contexts must be very different before an effect is seen

  E- This is not reflective of the difference in different rooms within the same house

  L- This means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not explain everyday forgetting.
• Counterpoint:

  P- one limitation is that context effects may depend substantially on the type of memory being tested

  E- Godden and Baddeley replicated their research using recognition not recall. Ppts had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list instead of retrieving it for themselves.

  E- When recognition was tested there was no context-dependent effect, performance was the same in al four conditions

  L- This shows that retrieval failure is a limited explanation, limited to recall not recognition.
• Counterpoint:

  P- There is a lot of evidence that forgetting takes place when there is a mismatch of encoding and retrieval cues, as suggested by the encoding specificity principle

  E- However, it is impossible to establish whether a cue has been encoded or not. The Reasoning is circular and based on assumptions.

  E- In an experiment, if a cue did not produce recall we assume it cannot have been encoded. If the cue did produce recall, we assume it must have been encoded.

  L- This impacts the validity of retrieval failure theory.