Explanation for forgetting - retrieval failure

What is retrieval failure

Not being able to access information that is already there

Who investigated retrieval failure

Endel Tulving

What did he call the summary of his findings

Encoding specificity principle

What does the ESP state

That the cue has to be present when material is learnt (encoding) and present at retrieval)

What happens if cues are different at encoding and retrieval

There will be forgetting

What is context dependent forgetting

When recall depends on an external cue

What is state dependent forgetting

When recall depends on an internal cue

Who investigated context dependent forgetting

Baddeley and Godden

How did they investigate

They studied deep sea divers to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater. The divers learned lists of water either underwater or on land and were then asked to recall either underwater or on land

What did they find

In 2 conditions environmental context of learning and recall matched, in the other 2 they did not. Recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions. Concluded the external conditions available at learning were different to those available at recall and caused retrieval failure

Who researched state dependent forgetting

Carter and Cassady

How did they investigate

They gave antihistamine to participants which made them slightly drowsy. Participants had to learn lists of words and passages of prose and recall

What did they find

In conditions where the state learned and state recalled were different there was retrieval failure because the cues were absent

What is a strength evaluation point

Retrieval cues can help overcome forgetting in everyday situations. When having trouble remembering it is worth making the effort to recall in the environment u learned it in. Shows research can give us strategies to use in the real world to improve recall

What is a strength evaluation point

There is a lot of research to support retrieval failure. Studies by Godden and Baddeley and Cassady and Carter show lack of cues can lead to context dependent and state dependent forgetting in everyday life. Researchers argue retrieval failure is the main reason of forgetting from LTM. Shows retrieval failure occurs in real world situations as well as lab

What is a counterpoint to the previous evaluation point

Baddeley argues that context effects are actually not very strong especially in everyday life. Different contexts have to be very different for an effect to be seen. Learning something in one room and recalling in another is not likely to result in much forgetting because they are not that different. Shows retrieval failure due to lack of context cues may not explain forgetting in everyday life

What is a limitation evaluation point

Context effects may depend highly on the type of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley replicated their experiment with a recognition test instead of recall. Participants had to say whether they recognised a word from the list rather than retrieving it for themselves. When recognition was tested context dependent effects were absent, performance was the same in all 4 conditions. Suggests retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when recalling rather than recognising