Retrieval failure

• CUES

  • a trigger that allows us to remember a memory
• EXTERNAL CUES

  • external environment or context
  • context dependent retrieval & forgetting
• INTERNAL CUES

  • internal state eg drugs, alcohol
  • state dependent retrieval & forgetting
• ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE

  • cues help us to recall infomation if it was present when encoding and retrieval
• CONTEXT DEPENDENT FORGETTING

  • Godden & Baddeley - deep sea divers
  • learn on land - recall on land
  • learn on land - recall in sea
  • learn in sea - recall in sea
  • learn in sea - recall on land
• CONTEXT DEPENDENT FORGETTING

  • accurate recall was 40 % lower in non-matching conditions
  • external cues were different to those at recall leading to retrieval failure
• CONTEXT DEPENDENT RETRIEVAL

  • Smith 1979, participants 80 words to learn in a basement
  • tested some in the basement and others
  • those tested in the basement = 18 words
  • those tested in room on 5th floor = 12 words
  • those who imagined basement = 17 Words
• STATE DEPENDENT FORGETTING

  • Carter & Cassaday 1998
  • gave participant antihistamines to change internal state
  • recall words and phases
  • learn on drug-recall on drug
  • learn on drug-recall not on drug
  • learn not on drug - recall not on drug
  • learn not on drug - recall on drug
• STATE DEPENDENT FORGETTING

  • recall performance was significantly worse when the internal state was different to the one when learning leading to retrieval failure
• • STATE DEPENDENT RETRIEVAL
  • Goodwin et al
  • participants who hid money when drunk more likely to remember where they hid it when they were drunk
• P - methodological criticism

  -lacks external validity

  E -absence of cues

  - lab experiment

  - artificial environment & stimuli

  C - lacks ecological validity

  - lacks mundane realism

  - unable generalise

  - lowers the usefulness of interference as a reason for forgetting
• P - absence of external cuses

  - Carter & Cassaday

  E - learn 80 words in a basement or a different room on 5th floor

  - tested in basement or in room on 5th floor

  - those who learnt & tested in the same place did significantly better

  C- use of external cues

  - importance of retrieval failure for reason for forgetting
• P- absence of external cues

  - Godden & Baddeley

  E - 2 groups learn 40 words on land or in sea

  - tested on land or in sea

  - those who learnt & tested in the same place did significantly better

  C-use of external cues

  - importance of retrieval failure for reason for forgetting
• P - internal cues Goodwin

  E - people who hid money while drunk more likely to find when drunk again

  C- importance of retrieval failure for reason for forgetting

  - use of internal cues
• P- internal cues Darley et al

  E - similar effect to those of Goodwin used marijuana

  C- importance of retrieval failure for reason for forgetting

  - use of internal cues
• P - retrieval failure may not be only reason

  E - forgetting may be due to decay & interference

  - McGeoch & McDonald / Baddeley & Hitch

  C- does not provide a complete explanation, LTM