5a. Forgetting: retrieval failure

What is retrieval failure?

Retrieval failure= A form of forgetting. It occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.

What is a ‘cue’?

Cue=A ‘trigger’ of information that allows us to access a memory. Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning. Indirect cues may be external (environmental context) or internal (mood or degree of drunkenness).

What is encoding specificity principle?

Encoding specificity principle= if a cue is going to be helpful, it has to be both:

• present at encoding (when we learn the material)

• present at retrieval (when we are recalling it)

What is context-dependent forgetting?

Context- dependent forgetting= recall depends on external cue (e.g. weather or a place)

• being in different environments when learning and retrieving information will more likely lead to forgetting, or retrieval failure

What is state-dependent forgetting?

State-dependent forgetting= recall depends on internal cue (e.g. feeling upset, being drunk)

• being in different internal/ mental states when learning and retrieving information will more likely lead to retrieval failure

Who did research on context-dependent forgetting?

Duncan Godden and Alan Baddeley did research on context-dependent forgetting

What was the procedure in Godden and Baddeley’s research on context- dependent forgetting?

Duncan Godden and Alan Baddeley (1975) studied deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater. The divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land. This created four conditions:

• Learn on land – recall on land.

• Learn underwater – recall on land.

• Learn on land – recall underwater.

• Learn underwater – recall underwater

What were the findings and conclusion in Godden and Baddeley’s research on context-dependent forgetting?

In two of these conditions the environmental contexts of learning and recall matched, whereas in the other two they did not. Accurate recall was 40% lower in the nonmatching conditions. They concluded that the external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure.

Who did research on state-dependent forgetting?

Sara Carter and Helen Cassaday did research on state-dependent forgetting

What was the procedure in Carter and Cassaday’s research on state-dependent forgetting?

Sara Carter and Helen Cassaday (1998) gave antihistamine drugs (for treating hay fever) to their participants. The antihistamines had a mild sedative effect, making the participants slightly drowsy. This creates an internal physiological state different from the ‘normal’ state of being awake and alert. The participants had to learn lists of words and passages of prose and then recall the information, again creating four conditions:

• Learn on drug – recall when on drug.

• Learn not on drug – recall when on drug.

• Learn on drug – recall when not on drug.

• Learn not on drug – recall when not on drug

What were the findings and conclusion in Carter and Cassaday’s research on state-dependent forgetting?

In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse. So when the cues are absent (for example, you are drowsy when recalling information but had been alert learning it) then there is more forgetting.