Explanations for forgetting: Interference and Retrieval failure

What is forgetting?

When a person looses the ability to store memories and recall information

What is interference?

It is forgetting because one memory disrupted the recall of another memory, which causes one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

What is proactive inteference?

It is a type of interference where past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something

What is retroactive interference?

It is a type of interference where current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning

What is one key factor which greatly enhances the degree of proactive and retroactive interference?

Similarity of the memories

Who did the research on the effects of similarity and which year?

McGeoch and McDonald (1931)

Which type of interference was studied in the effects of similarity research?

Retroactive interference

What did participants have to do in the effects of similarity research?

• Participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy.

• They then learned a new list of words and were asked to recall the original list of words

What were the 6 groups of participants in the effects of similarity research?

• Synonyms

• Antonyms

• Unrelated words

• Consonant syllables

• Numbers

• No new words(Control condition)

What were the findings of the research on the effects of similarity?

When pcp’s were asked to recall the original list of words, the synonyms produced the worst recall. This sshows that interference is strongest when memories are similar

Which researchers did another study on interference and in which year?

Baddeley and Hitch (1977)

What was the procedure of the other study on interference?

• Rugby players were asked to recall names of teams they had played against over one season

What were the findings on the other study on interference?

• Players who had played in the most games had the worst recall

• The researchers found that the later, more recent games had interfered with recall of the earlier games

What was the conclusion drawn on the other study on interference?

• Baddeley & Hitch concluded that interference had occurred to prevent accurate recall

What is retrieval failure?

Retrieval failure is forgetting because a person is unable to retrieve a memory which is there but not accessible due to a lack of cues

What are 2 non meaningful cues?

• Context-dependent forgetting

• State-dependent forgetting

What is context- dependent forgetting?

Occurs when memories are harder to recall because the external cues present during learning are missing at the time of retrieval

What is state-dependent forgetting?

Recall is harder because the emotional or physiological state during retrieval is different from the state during learning. (internal cues are missing)

What are cues?

• A cue is a hint or trigger that can help retrieve a memory which is present during learning and retrieval.

What are the 2 types of cues?

• Meaningful cue

• Indirect cue

What are 2 types of indirect cues?

• External cues(environment)

• Internal (emotion based)

State the encoding specificity principle

For a cue to be helpful, it must be present at encoding and present at retrieval. if the cue does not meet the criteria, the information may be forgotten

Who and in what year was the encoding specificity principle suggested?

Tulving (1973)

Which researchers carried out research on context dependent forgetting and in which year?

Godden and Baddeley(1975)

What was the aim of the research carried out on context dependent forgetting?

• The researchers aimed to investigate whether memory was better for words learned and recalled in the same environment or in different environments (the contexts being land or water)

What was the sample of he research carried out on context dependent forgetting?

18 participants (13 males and 5 females) from a university diving club

What was the procedure of the research carried out on context dependent forgetting?

• Participants were asked to learn a set of words either on land or underwater and were then asked to recall these words underwater or on land

What were the conditions of the independent variable of the research carried out on context dependent forgetting? (4)

• 1) learning words on land/recalling on land

• 2) learning words on land/recalling underwater

• 3) learning underwater/recalling underwater

• 4) learning underwater/recalling on land

What were the findings of the research carried out on context dependent forgetting?

• The results showed that words learned underwater were better recalled underwater and words learned on land were better recalled on land

Who and in what year was the research on state-dependent forgetting?

Cassaday and Carter(1998)

What was the procedure for the research on state-dependent forgetting?

• The researchers gave the pcp’s antihistamine drugs which had a sedative effects

• This created a different internal physiological state, different from being awake

What were the participants asked to do for the research on state-dependent forgetting?

• They were asked to learn lists of different words and passages of prose and asked to recall the information in 4 different conditions

What were the 4 pcp variables for the research on state-dependent forgetting?

• Learn on drug, recall on drug

• Learn on drug, recall not on drug

• Learn not on drug, recall not on drug

• Learn not on drug, recall on drug

What were the findings for the research on state-dependent forgetting?

In conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse