explanations for forgetting

what are the two explanations for forgetting?

interference & retrieval failure

what is proactive interference?

when past learning interferes with current learning

what is retroactive interference?

when current learning interferes with past learning

what is interference?

where one memory disrupts the ability to recall another (especially if they are similar)

who were the first researchers to identify retroactive interference?

muller & pilzecker

what was muller & pilzecker’s procedure?

• gave pps a list of nonsense syllables

• after retention interval, pps were asked to recall the lists

what were muller & pilzecker’s findings?

performance was worse if pps were given an intervening task

what was underwood’s procedure?

• analysed studies

• pps learnt different numbers of word lists and recalled them 24 hours after

what was underwood’s findings?

• when pps have to learn a series of word lists, they do not learn the later words as well as the earlier ones

• if pps memorised 10+ lists, after 24 hours, they remembered 20%

• one list = 70%

what was mcgeoch & mcdonald’s procedure?

• gave pps a list of 10 adjectives (List A)

• there was a resting interval of 10 minutes where they learn List B, followed by recall

what were mcgeoch & mcdonald’s findings?

• if list b was a list of synonyms of A, recall was poor - 12%

• if list b was nonsense syllables - 26%

• if list b was numbers - 37%

what was mcgeoch & mcdonald’s conclusion?

interference is strongest the more similar the items are

what was baddeley & hitch’s aim?

to investigate interference effects in an everyday setting of rugby players

what was baddeley & hitch’s procedure?

• all players had to recall the names of teams they played against in a season

• all players had some interval (season)

• some had more intervening games due to missing them

what did baddeley & hitch find?

those who played the most games forgot more proportionately

what are cues?

things that serve as a reminder

what is retrieval failure?

an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is available but not accessible

who developed the encoding specificity principle?

tulving & thomson

what is the encoding specificity prnciple?

memory is most efficient when information present at encoding is present during retrieval

what was tulving & pearlstone’s aim?

to investigate the value of retrieval cues

what was tulving & pearlstone’s procedure?

• pps learnt 48 words belonging to 12 categories

• each was presented as category + word

• 2 conditions: free recall & cued recall

what were tulving & pearlstone’s findings?

• free recall = 40% correct

• cued recall = 60%

what was tulving & pearlstone’s conclusion?

when information is learnt, we often remember the environmental context or our emotional state and that cues encoded at the time of learning can aid retrieval

who demonstrated context-dependent forgetting?

• abernethy

• godden & baddeley

what was abernethy’s procedure?

• group of students tested before a course & weekly during

• 4 conditions: usual room + usual teacher, diff room + diff teacher, usual room + diff teacher & vice versa

what were abernethy’s findings?

• usual room + usual teacher students performed best

• superior students were least affected by the change

what was abernethy’s conclusion?

familiar things act as memory cues

what was godden & baddeley’s aim?

to investigate the effects of contextual cues

what was godden & baddeley’s procedure?

• pps were scuba divers

• learnt on land or water & tested on land or water

• 4 conditions

what were godden & baddeley’s findings?

the best recall performance was when the initial context matched the recall environment

who demonstrated state-dependent forgetting?

goodwin et al

what was goodwin et al’s procedure?

• male volunteers asked to remember a list

• either drunk or sober

• drunk = 3x uk driving limit

• asked to recall 24h after

what were goodwin et al’s findings?

• best recall was when sober learning, sober at recall

• worst performance was drunk learning and sober at recall

what is context-dependent forgetting?

retrieval cues are based on context or the way information is presented

what is state-dependent forgetting?

memory will be best when a person’s physical or psychological state is similar at encoding and retrieval

what are the strengths of interference as an explanation of forgetting?

• demonstrated in lab studies - increases validity - highly controlled - standardised instructions - removes biasing effects of extraneous and confounding variables

• research support from all above studies

what are the weaknesses of interference as an explanation for forgetting?

• artificial stimuli used - e.g., word lists - low mundane realism - may influence extent of forgetting

• conducted in very short spaces of time - recall 1/2hr after learning - doesn’t reflect real life - unlikely valid explanation in case of LTM

what are the strengths of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting?

• Eysenck - retrieval failure may be one of the main reasons we forget in LTM - this + highly controlled lab experiments increases validity - more confidence

what are the weaknesses of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting?

• may lack ecological validity - Baddeley: hard to find conditions in real life that are as polar as water and lan - may be best suited to explain forgetting where cues associated with encoding and retrieval are uncommonly distinct - not accurate

• Godden and Baddeley repeated their underwater experiment but tested the recognition of learnt words rather than recall - found no significant difference in accuracy of recognition between matched and non matched - may only explain forgetting for some types of memory in specific conditions - not universal - poor generalisability

• encoding specificity principle is cyclical - over-reliance on assumptions - e.g., may not always be the case that differences between cues at encoding and recall cause retrieval failure