EXPLANATIONS FOR FORGETTING - RETRIEVAL FAILURE

What is retrieval failure

It suggests that forgetting occurs when the 'cues’ present at the time of encoding the information are not present at the time of recall. This describes Tulving's 'encoding specificity principle' (ESP).

What are ‘cues’

Triggers of information recollection

What can ‘cues’ be associated with

Internal or external factors, there are two types of forgetting: context-dependent and state-dependent.

When does context dependent forgetting occur

• Context-dependent forgetting occurs when our external cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall.

Who demonstrated context dependent forgetting

Godden and Baddeley (1975)

How did Godden and Baddeley demonstrate context dependent forgetting

They found that with deep-water divers, recall at the 'matching' conditions (e.g. word list learnt underwater and recalled underwater) was significantly larger than the non-matching conditions. Therefore, there were 4 conditions in total, involving underwater and on land encoding and recall.

When does state dependent forgetting occur

When our internal cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall.

Who demonstrated state dependent forgetting

Carter and Cassaday (1998)

How did Carter and Cassaday demonstrate state dependent forgetting

By using a similar methodology as Godden and Baddeley, but with anti-histamines instead to change the internal cues at the time of encoding and recall. The researchers found 40% higher rates of accurate recall in the matching conditions, compared to the non-matching conditions.

WEAKNESS - no significant difference in accuracy of recognition between the matched and non-matched conditions in Godden and Baddeley’s underwater, deep sea diver experiment

• They repeated their underwater, deep-sea diver experiment but tested for the recognition of learnt words, as opposed to recall, and found no significant difference in accuracy of recognition between the matched and non-matched conditions.

What does Godden and Baddeley’s realisation of no significant difference in the accuracy of recognition between matched and non matched conditions suggest

That retrieval failure may only explain forgetting for some types of memory, tested in specific ways and under certain conditions, hence not being a universal explanation. This means the findings from studies of retrieval failure have poor generalisability.

WEAKNESS - lack of real world applicability

Some critics argue that lab-based studies investigating retrieval failure, like Godden and Baddeley’s underwater study, may not be representative of real-life memory situations. In everyday life, people are in stable, familiar environments, and the retrieval cues present may not always be as disconnected as those in experimental settings.

STRENGTH - supported by studies

Retrieval failure is supported by a wide range of research studies, (Godden and Baddeley) like those by Tulving and Thomson (1973), who proposed the encoding specificity principle. They found that people were more likely to recall information when the context at retrieval matched the context at encoding, supporting the idea that forgetting occurs due to the absence of cues.

WEAKNESS - lack of ecological validity

Findings from studies of retrieval failure may lack ecological validity. This is because Baddeley argued that it is difficult to find conditions in real-life which are as opposite as water and land, for example, and questioned the existence of context effects in normal life. This suggests that retrieval failure may be best suited to explaining cases of forgetting where the cues associated with encoding and retrieval are distinct, not providing an accurate depiction of forgetting in day to day life.