Explanations of forgetting: retrieval failure

Retrieval failure:

It occurs when we don't have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible

Encoding specificity principle:

Tulving - that a cue has to be present at encoding and present at retrieval

Context-dependent forgetting:

Godden & Baddley - deep sea diver study, where divers learnt and recalled words on land and in the sea.

They found better recall if they were leant and recalled in the same context. Accurate recall was 40% lower in different context.

State-dependent forgetting:

Carter & Cassaday - gave pps a drug that made them feel drowsy. They gave them a list of words to recall on the drug and not on the drug.

They found in mismatched conditions recall was worse.

Different contexts are hard to find

Baddeley argues it is hard to find different contexts like land and water, leading to lower effect. No real life application

Untestable methods

We are unable to test the encoding specify principle. The experiments that aim to test cues are just based off of assumptions. Meaning this theory is not falsifiable

Strong research support

Carter and Cassaday and Godden and Baddeleys studies show that retrieval failure is a valid concept. Showing good validity