EVALUATION

• STRENGTHS OF THE RETRIEVAL FAILURE EXPLANATION?

  • research support
  • real world application
• WEAKNESSES OF THE RETRIEVAL FAILURE APPLICATION?

  • encoding specificity principle
  • not full explanation
• WHAT IS THE REAL WORLD APPLICATION OF THE RETRIEVAL FAILURE EXPLANATION?

  • research shows cues help
  • used in cognitive interviews
  • explanation is useful
  • improved accuracy of EWT
• WHAT IS LIMITATIONS TO THE ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE?

  • cannot be independently tested
  • no way of knowing if divers used land/ water as cues
  • cannot establish cause and effect between absence of cues and forgetting
• WHY IS THE RETRIEVAL FAILURE EXPLANATION NOT COMPLETE?

  information not forgotten only unable to be recalled