Explanations for forgetting: Retrieval failure

• Retrieval Failure theory for forgetting

  When info is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time. If cues are not available at time of recall, you are not able to access memories that are there (retrieval failure)
• Retrieval Failure theory for forgetting 2

  Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)

  If a cue is to help us recall info it has to be present at encoding and at retrieval. Some cues are linked to material to be remembered in a meaningful way (e.g., mnemonics).
• Retrieval Failure theory for forgetting 3

  Context-dependent forgetting

  Godden and Baddeley (1975) asked divers to learn a list of words underwater or on land, then asked to recall underwater or on land (4 conditions). Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions. External cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall, and this led to retrieval failure.
• Retrieval Failure theory for forgetting 4

  State-dependent forgetting

  Carter and Cassady (1998) gave anti-histamine drugs to ppts (mild sedative effect made them slightly drowsy). Learnt word list on/not on drug then recalled on/not on drug (4 conditions). Performance at recall was significantly worse in non-matching conditions. So when cues are absent, there is more forgetting.
• Retrieval Failure theory for forgetting- evaluation

  ESP can't be tested as it leads to circular reasoning. If a cue produces the successful recall of a word, we assume the cue must of been encoded at the time of learning. If a cue does not produce the successful recall of a word, we assume it was not encoded at the time of learning. But these are just assumptions. There is no way to independently establish whether or not the cue has been coded. This leads to circular reasoning because the assumption implies a conclusion which 'proves' an assumption and so on
• Retrieval failure theory for forgetting- evaluation 2

  Real-life applications of retrieval failure due to contextual cues don't actually explain much forgetting. Hard to find environment as diff from land as underwater. But learning something in one room and recalling in another are unlikely to result in much forgetting because environments are generally not diff enough. Means context cues may not actually be very strong in real life.
• Retrieval failure theory for forgetting- evaluation 3

  The context effect may be related to the kind of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicated experiment but tested recognition instead of recall. Performance same in all 4 conditions, so there was no context-dependent effect. Means presence or absence of cues only effects memory when tested in a certain way.