Forgetting: retrieval failure

What is retrieval failure?

A form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory

What is the encoding specificity principle?

For a cue to aid memory, it must be present at encoding & retrieval

Who proposed the encoding specificity principle?

Tulving

How many types of forgetting are there within this theory & what are they?

Two: state-dependent forgetting & context-dependent forgetting

What is context-dependent forgetting?

Recall of information is worse if the external environment/cues at retrieval is different from the context at encoding

What is state-dependent forgetting?

Recall of information is worse if a person’s internal state/cues (i.e. emotional/psychological) at retrieval is different from their internal state at encoding

Describe and evaluate retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)

Write your AO1 paragraph

• Retrieval failure is a form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. Tulving proposed the encoding specificity principle, which states that for a cue to aid memory, it must be present at both encoding & retrieval. Additionally, recall is more likely if the conditions at retrieval are similar to when the memory was encoded. There are two types of forgetting within this theory: context-dependent & state-dependent forgetting.

• Firstly, context-dependent forgetting (external cues) occurs when the environment that we are in during retrieval doesn’t match the environment we were in during encoding. Secondly, state-dependent forgetting (internal cues) occurs when our emotional & psychological state during retrieval doesn’t match the state we were in during encoding.

Describe and evaluate retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)

Write your strength AO3 PEEL (Godden & Baddeley)

• Point: One strength of retrieval failure theory is there is empirical evidence in support of context-dependent forgetting.

• Evidence: For example, in Godden & Baddeley’s study, deep sea divers were asked to learn words on land & then recall them either in the same environment or in the sea.

• Explain: Results found those who recalled the words in the sea showed a 30% deficit in comparison to those who recalled the words on land.

• Link: Overall, this suggests more accurate recall occurs when cues are similar during encoding & retrieval, supporting Tulving’s encoding specificity principle.

Describe and evaluate retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)

Write your strength AO3 PEEL (Goodwin et al.)

• Point: One strength of retrieval failure theory is there is empirical evidence in support of state-dependent forgetting.

• Evidence: For example, in Goodwin et al.’s study, male participants were asked to remember word lists either in a drunk or sober state & recall them 24 hours later, in the same or opposite internal state.

• Explain: Results found that words learned when drunk were better recalled when drunk & words learnt when sober were better recalled when sober.

• Link: Therefore, this suggests recall is more accurate our internal state is similar at both encoding & retrieval, further supporting Tulving’s encoding specificity principle.

Describe and evaluate retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)

Write your limitation AO3 PEEL (Godden & Baddeley → low ecological validity)

• Point: One limitation of research into retrieval failure is that many studies suffer from low ecological validity, as they use artificial tasks.

• Evidence: For example, in Godden & Baddeley’s study, deep sea divers were asked to learn words on land & then recall them either in the same environment or in the sea.

• Explain: However, memorising meaningless word lists in unusual environments doesn’t reflect how memory works in everyday settings (e.g. revising for exams or remembering information for work meetings & presentations).

• Link: Therefore, this reduces the external validity of Godden & Baddeley’s research, meaning the findings have limited generalisability beyond the experiment.