Retrieval Failure

• Retrieval failure is where the information is present in LTM but cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present.
• • When we store a new memory we also store information about the situation - these are known as retrieval cues.
  • When encountering a similar situation in the future, these retrieval cues can trigger the memory of the situation.
• The Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)


  Tulving et al.(1983) reviewed research into retrieval failure and argued there is an (ESP) i.e. that an individual’s recall of information is enhanced when the environment in which they originally learned something is similar to the environment in which they are attempting to recall it. However, there is cyclical reasoning due to its over-reliance on assumptions. Eg. it may not always be the case that differences between cues at the time of encoding and recall causes retrieval failure, but the cyclical nature of the ESP suggests that it is so.
• Context-Dependent Forgetting - Godden & Baddeley (1975)


  Asked divers to learn a list of words either underwater or on land. The divers were then asked to recall the words either in the same place they learnt the list or in the opposite place.

  There were four conditions:

  • Learn on land – recall on land
  • Learn on land – recall underwater
  • Learn underwater – recall underwater
  • Learn underwater – recall on land
• Godden & Baddeley CDF (1975) Findings


  Recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.

  They argued that this was because the external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall and this led to retrieval failure.
• State-dependent forgetting refers to forgetting which occurs because the emotional or physical state at recall is different to that of the time of learning.
• Context-dependent forgetting refers to forgetting which occurs because the enviroment at recall is different to that of the time of learning.
• CDF Godden & Baddeley (1975) Limitations


  • Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are usually not very strong, especially in real life. For example, it would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater. In contrast, learning something in one room and recalling it another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough. So, the real life application of retrieval failure due to contextual cues may not actually explain anything, and this has low ecological validity.
• Carter & Cassaday's SDF (1998) 


  Tested state-dependent forgetting.

  • They gave participants an antihistamine pill with a mild sedative effect making p's slightly drowsy (to create an internal physiological state different from the participants ‘normal state’ of being awake/alert).
  • The p's were required to learn lists of words/passages and then recall the information either in the same state or not.
  • Condition 1: Learn on drug – recall on drug
  • Condition 2: Learn on drug – recall without drug
  • Condition 3: Learn without drug – recall without drug
  • Condition 4: Learn without drug – recall on drug
• Carter & Cassaday SDF (1998) found that in conditions where there was a mis-match between participants' state at learning vs. their state at recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.

  These findings demonstrate that when cues are absent, more forgetting occurs.
• • Although context-related cues appear not to have a very strong effect on forgetting, Baddeley still suggests they are worth paying attention to. For example, when we are having trouble remembering something, it is probably worth making the effort to try and recall the environment in which you first learned it – this principle is used in the cognitive interview, a method of getting eye witnesses to crimes to recall more information. Retrieval failure does have useful real-life applications to other aspects of memory than forgetting.
• • Godden and Baddley 1980 replicated the test except instead of recall they used recognition - no context dependent effect. This means the presence or absence of cues only affects memory when you test it in a certain way.