explanations for forgetting - retrieval failure

    Cards (11)

    • idea of forgetting mainly due to absence of cues
    • encoding specificity principle: memories become linked to cues that were present while they were being encoded
    • retrieval failure: occurs due to the absence of cues
    • cues: things that serve as reminders. can be environmental (based on location), social (based on who you are with), or state (based on your state of mind)
    • Tulving and Thompson
      • 1973
      • proposed encoding specificity principle as the idea that memory is most effective when the cues present at encoding are present at retrieval
    • Tulving and Pearlstone
      • 1966
      • found participants recalled 40% of words in free recall and 60% of words on cue recall
    • Godden and Baddeley (1975)
      • investigated context dependent learning
      • scuba diver study
    • Goodwin et al (1969)
      • investigated state-dependent forgetting
      • drunk study
    • (+) research support
      • Tulving + thompson, tulving + pearlstone, godden + baddeley, goodwin et al
      • C/A: cannot establish causal relationship, ESP has been criticised as it is impossible to test
    • (+) application to everyday memory
      • study on children + teacher/room swaps
      • supports role of cues and has high mundane realism
    • (-) retrieval cues don't always work
      • research where participants are learning lists of words oversimplifies how learning in the real world occurs
      • complex associations are less easily triggered by single cues, studies show context effects are largely eliminated when learning meaningful material
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