Forgetting- retreival failure-

• where info is available but cannot be recalled due to the absence of appropriate cues,
• the encoding specificity principle states that for info to be remembered there must be similarity between the cues present at encoding and available at recall
• cues can come from- the environment in which you are in, external context cues, or the way you feel- internal state cues,
• This means retreival failure can happen in two ways-
• Context dependent forgetting- when memories cannot be retreived because the situation you are in when recalling the info is diff from the situation in which you encoded the info
• Example of context dependent forgetting- encoded info about pscychology but are recalling the info in an exam hall
• State dependent forgetting- when mems cannot be retreived as your internal state when recalling the info is different from your internal state at the time you encoded the info.
• example of state dependent forgetting- encoding info about a crime in an anxious state but then later recalling it when you are relaxed instead.
• Research support from Godden and Baddeley, pps were divers who were asked to learn a word list while under water or on land. Half of the pps then had to recall the info in the same context as they encoded it and the other half had to recall it in a different context, forgetting was higher in pps who had to recall information in a different context
• Research to support comes from Carter and Cassaday, pps were people who were then asked to learn a word list while taking anti-histemines or not. Half of the pps then had to recall the info in the same state in which they encoded it and then the other half had to recall the info in a different state, Forgetting was higher in pps who had to recall the info in a different state. ]
• Real world application- explanations of forgetting have been used to develop the first technique of the cognitive interview where pps are asked to mentally recreate the context they were in when they witnessed a crime or an event. Therefore these explanations have helped increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
• Cause and effect cannot be established within this research- if a pp cannot recall info when in a diff context or state they encoded it, we infer that the absence of cues influenced the recall, however, there are so many extraneous variables that could influence an individual to forget info there is no way of being sure of a casual relationship.
• Goodwin et al. (1969), asked male volunteers to remember lists of words when they were either drunk or sober. The participants were then asked to recall the words 24 hours later, in either a drunk or sober state. The results show that words learned when drunk were better recalled when drunk, and words learnt when sober were better recalled when sober. These results support the idea of state-dependent forgetting and demonstrate the power of ‘state’ on recalling information.
• forgetting due to insufficient cues or clues from the environment
• one limitation of retreival failure- the contextual cues have to be significantly different to real life to have any significant effect