Forgetting

Friday 6th October ‘23

Forgetting isn’t due to memory not existing but more to do with not being able to access/locate them correctly.

Interference - when one memory blocks another, causing one or both to be either distorted or forgotten.
- Proactive - older memory interferes with newer memory.
- Retroactive - newer memory interferes with older memory.
Retrieval failure - memory is available but not accessible without a certain cue.
- Encoding specific principle - cue needs to be present at time of encoding and time of retrieval to be helpful e.g. mnemonics.
- Context dependent forgetting - recall depends on an external cue e.g weather or place.
- State dependent forgetting - recall depends on an internal cue e.g. feeling/emotions.

Studies for Interference

Greenberg + Underwood
- Procedure: Participants were given a list of 10-word pairs to learn. Every 48 hours, they were given a new list.
- Findings: the number of correctly recalled word pairs decreased with the more word pairs that had been learnt previously.
- Suggestions: previously learnt word combinations caused confusion in the coding of the later word lists (proactive interference).
Schmidt
- Procedure: Sent a questionnaire to 211 11-79 year olds which included the area around their old school without street names.
- Findings: the more times an individual moved home, the fewer street names could be recalled.
- Suggestions: Adding new street names to memory makes recalling old street names harder (retroactive interference).

Godden + Baddeley
- Procedure: material was learnt either underwater or on land and recalled either underwater and on land.
- Findings: recall was best with divers if they learnt in the same context as they were tested.
- Suggestions: environmental cues promote recall,
Overton
- Procedure: material was learnt either drunk or sober.
- Findings: recall was best when in the same internal state.
- Suggestions: internal cues promote recalls.