retrieval failure

Cards (4)

  • The encoding specificity principle makes an assumption that a cue is stored at the same time as a memory if the memory is successfully recalled later on.
    However, it is impossible to test this assumption. This lack of falsifiability is a weakness of ESP because this circular argument does not have any scientific credibility and so lacks validity as an explanation for forgetting.
  • The cognitive interview uses recall of the environment as a technique to help an eyewitness recall more details of an event.
    This is a strength of the theory as it has real life application that is very beneficial in helping people to remember information more accurately which could, for example, help the police to catch more criminals.
  • Supporting evidence comes from Carter & Cassaday who gave antihistamine drugs to their participants in order to create a different physiological state in them where they felt slightly drowsy. Participants had to learn lists of words and then recall this while being either drowsy or alert.
    Findings showed that in the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance was significantly worse.
  • This supports the retrieval failure theory since the internal cues were absent during retrieval when they were in a different state and this led to more forgetting.