Theories of Forgetting

Flashcards about Interference and Retrieval Failure Theories

What is interference theory about forgetting?

Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted/forgotten.

What is proactive interference?

Forgetting that occurs when older memories disrupt the recall of newer memories.

What is retroactive interference?

Forgetting that occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories.

What is retrieval failure theory?

Forgetting information due to insufficient cues.

What does it mean if memories are available but not accessible?

The information is in LTM but cannot be accessed unless a suitable cue is provided.

In the context of memory, what are cues?

A prompt/trigger that enables access to memories; can be external or internal.

What is the encoding specificity principle (ESP)?

Tulving found that a memory cue must be present at encoding and at retrieval; if cues differ or are absent at retrieval, forgetting will occur.

What are context-dependent cues?

External cues related to the environment in which a memory was formed.

What are state-dependent cues?

Internal cues related to the emotional or physical state in which a memory was formed.

Is there supporting evidence for Proactive Interference?

Yes, Keppel & Underwood as they conducted a similar experiment to Peterson & Peterson. PPs were presented with trigrams at different intervals and used the Brown-Peterson technique to preveny rehearsal; they typically remembered the trigrams that were presented first, regardless of interval length. This may be because earlier trigrams had transferred to the LTM and later trigrams were still in STM.

Is there practical application for Proactive Interference?

Learning - can be used to explain forgetting in everyday life, such as how to use a new phone.

Revision - Students may struggle to revise recently learnt material due to existing knowledge, especially if similar.

What approach is relevent to theories of forgetting?

Cognitive - as they are all unobservable internal mental processes

Is there contradictory evidence for the Interference Theory?

Yes, Tulving & Psotka carried out a study where PPS were given 6 lists of 24 words, slipt into 6 cateoreis and they recalled as many as possible without cues. They were then given the category names and asked to recall again. They original recall rate was 50%, but with cues it was 70%.

What is a strength of Proactive interference research

A lot of it was using highly controlled conditions.

What is a weakness of Proactive Interference Research?

They usually involve highly artificial tasks therefore suffer from low mundane realism.

Is there supporting evidence for retroactive Interference?

Yes, Baddeley & Hitch investigated the effects of interference in rugby players, who had to remember the names of players they had played each week that season; the last team played was different for each one, as some had missed games. they found that recall was better if PPs had played no matched since the specific match they had to recall, regardless of the amount of time passed.

What was McGeoach & McDonald’s study and how does it support retroactive interference?

They asked PPs to learn 10 words until 100%, they then learnt a new list which was either synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, trigrams, or no list. They found tat synonyms produced the worst recall, due to the degree of similarity

Is there any practical Application of retroactive interference?

Yes, the Standard Interview used by the police as it includes free recall, followed by specific questions. They will interrupt and ask necessary questions; whenever the eyewitness is interrupted, there is a risk of retroactive interference as new info or questions may prevent them from being able to recall details of the offence.

Is there any Supporting evidence for the retrieval failure theory?

Yes, Tulving & Psotka carried out a study where PPS were given 6 lists of 24 words, slipt into 6 cateoreis and they recalled as many as possible without cues. They were then given the category names and asked to recall again. They original recall rate was 50%, but with cues it was 70%.

Is there supporting evidence for context-dependent forgetting?

Yes, Godden & Baddely conducted a field experiment where deep-sea divers had to learn a list of words in 1 of 4 conditions: Learn and recall on land, learn and recall underwater, learn on land and recall underwater, and vice versa. They found that 40% higher when the divers had matched conditions.

Is there any practical application for retrieval Failure theory?

Yes, as the cognitive interview has the police using techniques based on Tulving’s encoding specificity principle in order to achieve the best memory recall from eyewitnesses; 1 of them is context-reinstatement, where witnesses are asked to describe their mood when the incident took place, in order to match their internal state with the state experiences at the time to enhance their recall.