Retrieval Failure

• What is Retrieval Failure?

  Forgetting that occurs when you don't have the necessary cues to access the memory
• What is a cue?


  A trigger of information that allows you to access a memory
• What is the Encoding Specificity Principle?


  Tulving proposed that for a cue to be helpful is has to be present at the time of encoding (learning the material) and at the time of retrieval ( when recalling it)
• What are the 2 type of cues?

  1. Context dependent forgetting
  2. State dependent forgetting
• Research on context dependent forgetting

  • Godden and Baddeley studied deep sea divers
  • 4 conditions: Learn on land and recall on land, learn on land recall underwater, learn underwater and recall on land, learn underwater and recall underwater
  • Recall was 40% lower in the non matched conditions
• Research for state dependent forgetting

  • Carter and Cassaday gave antihistamine drugs (creates internal physiological state which is different to normal state)
  • 4 conditions: learn on drug and recall on drug, learn on drug and recall when not on drug, learn not on drug and recall when on drug, learn not on drug and recall when not on drug
  • When conditions did not match recall was significantly worse
• AO3 Retrieval Failure: Real World Application

  • Retrieval cues can help to overcome some forgetting
  • Cues may not have a very strong effect on forgetting but are still worth paying attention to
  • e.g when you go to another room and forget why you went there so you go back to the original room and remember because you have the cue
  • It is worth making effort to recall where you learned it first
  • Shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall and how retrieval failure can help overcome some forgetting
• Limitation for Retrieval Failure: Recall vs Recognition

  • Context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested
  • Godden and Baddelely replicated the underwater experiment but instead did a recognition test not a recall test
  • Performance was the same in all 4 conditions
  • Retrieval Failure is a limited explanation for forgetting as it only applies when a person has to recall information not recognise it