Explanations for forgetting:

• Proactive & retroactive interference

  • Forgetting refers to a person's loss of ability to recall information and store memories
  • Forgetting can occur in both short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM)
  • Interference is an explanation for forgetting and is divided into:
  • proactive interference (PI)
  • retroactive interference (RI)
  • Interference occurs when one memory prevents the retrieval of another memory

  Proactive interference

  • Proactive interference occurs when an older memory interferes with a newer memory, e.g.
  • the names of previous neighbours are remembered instead of the names of the new neighbours who have just moved in

  Retroactive interference

  • Retroactive interference occurs when a new memory prevents the recall of an older memory, e.g.
  • the names of new neighbours who have just moved in are remembered but the names of previous neighbours are forgotten
• Evaluation

  Strengths

  • Interference occurs in real-life situations (Baddeley & Hitch, 1977)
  • Rugby players were asked to recall names of teams they had played against over one season
  • Players who had played in the most games had the worst recall
  • The researchers found that the later, more recent games had interfered with recall of the earlier games
  • Baddeley & Hitch concluded that interference had occurred to prevent accurate recall
  • The use of real players recalling real games gives this study good ecological validity
  • Interference may explain why it is often more difficult to learn a language (e.g. French) if a previous language has been learnt (e.g. Spanish)
  • The above observation gives the theory good external validity
• Limitations

  • Interference can be temporary, using hints or cues can help with remembering previously forgotten information (Tulving & Psotka 1971)
  • Much of the research used for studying interference is lab-based using artificial tasks (such as recalling word lists) which means the research has low ecological validity
• What is a cue in memory retrieval?

  A hint or trigger to retrieve a memory
• How can cues be categorized?

  Cues can be meaningful or indirect
• When is a cue placed in the memory store?

  At the same time as the information
• What is retrieval failure?

  Forgetting due to insufficient cues
• What happens to a memory during retrieval failure?

  The memory is available but not accessible
• Who proposed the encoding-specificity principle?

  Tulving in 1983
• What must a cue do to be helpful in remembering?

  Be present during encoding and retrieval
• What happens if a cue does not meet the criteria?

  The information may be forgotten
• What type of cues often have a meaningful link to the information?

  Many cues formed during memory creation
• What are the types of forgetting related to cues?

  • Context-dependent forgetting
  • State-dependent forgetting
• What is context-dependent forgetting?

  Recall depends on an external cue
• What did Godden & Baddeley (1975) investigate?

  The effect of contextual cues on memory
• Who conducted research on context-dependent forgetting?

  Godden & Baddeley
• What was the sample size in the study by Godden & Baddeley?

  18 participants
• How many males were in the sample of the study?

  13 males
• How many females were in the sample of the study?

  5 females
• What were participants asked to do in the study?

  Learn and recall a set of words
• In what two environments did participants learn words?

  On land and underwater
• What were the four conditions of the independent variable?

  Learning and recalling on land or underwater
• What was the first condition of the independent variable?

  Learning words on land/recalling on land
• What was the second condition of the independent variable?

  Learning words on land/recalling underwater
• What was the third condition of the independent variable?

  Learning underwater/recalling underwater
• What is state-dependent forgetting?

  Recall depends on internal cues like emotions
• What was the fourth condition of the independent variable?

  Learning underwater/recalling on land
• What physiological states can affect recall?

  Feeling drunk, drugged, or tired
• What did the results show about words learned underwater?

  Better recalled underwater
• What did the results show about words learned on land?

  Better recalled on land
• How does alcohol influence recall according to Goodwin et al. (1969)?

  It improves recall when in the same state
• What is key for retrieval to happen?

  Context
• What was the method used by Goodwin et al. (1969) in their study?

  Participants learned words drunk or sober
• What happens without the right context for retrieval?

  Forgetting is more likely
• What did Goodwin et al. (1969) find about word recall after 24 hours?

  Better recall when participants were drunk again
• What was the focus of Carter and Cassaday's (1998) experiment?

  The effect of antihistamine drugs on recall
• What type of effect do antihistamine drugs have?

  A sedative effect
• What was the result of Carter and Cassaday's (1998) study on recall?

  Higher recall when in the same state
• How does state-dependent forgetting relate to learning and recall?

  Learning and recall are better in the same state
• Evaluation

  Strengths

  • There is good real-world application to the theory, e.g.
  • studying for exams should be conducted in the same room in which the exam is to take place to aid recall
  • This means that the theory has good external validity

  Limitations

  • Baddeley (1977) argued that the effect of context is not very strong in real-world situations
  • It would be difficult to find such extremely contrasting contexts as land and water (Godden and Baddeley) in real life
  • This means that retrieval failure due to a lack of contextual cues may not be a good model to explain forgetting
  • Many of the studies involve learning lists of words which is an artificial task, meaning that the studies lack ecological validity and real-world application