Retrieval Failure

• Retrieval failure is another explanation for forgetting
• Along with the memory, associated cues are stored. If these cues are not present during recall, it is difficult to retrieve the memory
• Tulving (1983) researched retrieval failure and discovered that a cue has to be present at encoding and at retrieval, if the cues are different or absent then there will be forgetting. This is called the Encoding Specificity Principle
• Context dependent forgetting is when the environment during recall is different to the environment during encoding
• State dependent forgetting occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood you were in when encoding occurred
• Godden and Baddeley (1975) researched context dependent forgetting
• Godden and Baddeley aimed to investigate the effects of context clues on recall. To see whether words learned in the same environment they are recalled in are recalled better than in a different environment to learning
• Godden and Baddeley had divers learn a list of words either underwater or on land and then had them recall them either underwater or on land
• Godden and Baddley's 4 conditions:

  1. Learn on land- recall on land
  2. learn on land- recall underwater
  3. learn underwater- recall underwater
  4. learn underwater- recall on land
• Godden and Baddeley found that accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions
• Carter and Cassaday (1998) researched state dependent forgetting
• Carter and Cassaday aimed to investigate the effects of state cues on recall
• carter and cassaday gave anti-histamines that had a mild sedative to participants. This created a different internal physiological state from being awake and alert (normal state). The task was to learn and recall words
• Carter and Cassaday's 4 conditions:

  1. learn on drug- recall on drug
  2. learn on drug- recall not on drug
  3. learn not on drug- recall on drug
  4. learn not on drug- recall not on drug
• Carter and Cassaday found that performance was worse in the mismatched states
• STRENGTHS

  • supporting evidence: Abernathy (1940)
  • real life application: eyewitness testimonies
• Abernathy (1940) found that students who were tested in the same room with the same instructor scored the best in their results
• LIMITATIONS:

  • questioning context effects: Baddeley (1997)
  • recall vs recognition: Godden and Baddeley (1980)
• Baddeley (1997) argued that context effects are not actually very strong, especially within real life. Learning in one room and then recalling in another will not have that much of a difference as the environments are not different enough
• Godden and Baddeley (1980) repeated the underwater experiment but with a recognition test. There was no context-dependent effect