Memory - Explanations For Forgetting

Question 1

What is meant by interference?

Answer 1

One memory disturbs the ability to recall another. This at result in forgetting one or the other or both. This is more likely to occur if the memories are similar.

Question 2

What is proactive interference?

Answer 2

• Where new info is being interfered with.
• Previously learnt info interferes with new info.
• e.g. difficulties learning new mobile number, keep remembering old one.

Question 3

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 3

• Where old info is being interfered with.
• New info ‘overwrites’ previously stored info.
• A new memory interferes with older ones.
• e.g. can remember people in old math class if you move to new one.

Question 4

What was Baddeley and Hitch’s experiment?

Answer 4

• It was a natural experiment.
• They wanted to see how many teams names a rugby team could recall that they played against.
• Some players played in all games while others missed some due to injury.
• The time interval from start to end of the season was the same for all players but the number of intervening games was different for each player.
• The players who played the most games forgot proportionally more due to interference, if decay theory was correct then all of the players would forget some games as time would be the only factor effecting memory.

Question 5

What is retrieval failure due to an absence of cues?

Answer 5

Info is stored in LTM but cannot be accessed.
- This theory proposes that when we learn info we also encode the context (external cues) in which we learn the info and the mental state we were in (internal cues). These can act as cues to recall

Question 6

What is an external/context cue?

Answer 6

A cue in the environment (place, smell, etc)

Question 7

What is an internal/state cue?

Answer 7

A cue inside of us, mental state (mood, etc).

Question 8

What was the procedure in the Godden and Baddeley experiment?

Answer 8

18 divers were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of 2 or 3 syllables.
4 conditions:
1) learn on beach, recall on beach.
2) learn on beach, recall under water.
3) learn under water, recall under water.
4) learn under water, recall on beach.

Question 9

What were the results and conclusion of the Godden and Baddeley experiment?

Answer 9

Results (number of words recalled correctly):
Learn on beach, recall on beach = 13.5
Learn on beach, recall under water = 8.6
Learn under water, recall under water = 11.4
Learn under water, recall on beach = 8.5
Conclusion:
The results show that the context acted as a cue to recall as the Ps recalled more words when they learnt and recalled the words in the same environment than when they learnt and recalled the words in different environments.

Question 10

What was the procedure in Goodwin et al’s experiment?

Answer 10

48 male medical students took part in day 1 (training session) and day 2 (in a testing)
Group 1: SS (were sober both days)
Group 2: AA (were intoxicated both days)
Group 3: AS
Group 4: SA
Level of intoxication was controlled (100ml alcohol in blood and all showed signs of intoxication).

Ps took part in 4 tests: an avoidance task, a verbal rote-learning task, a word association test, a picture recognition task.

Question 11

What were the results and conclusion of the Goodwin et al’s experiment?

Answer 11

Results: More errors were made on day 2 in the AS and SA condition than in the AA or SS conditions, however not the caste for the picture recognition test. The SS Ps performed best in all tasks.

Conclusion: This supports the state-dependent memory theory as the performance was best in the Ps who were sober or intoxicated on both days.

Question 12

What is meant by state dependant forgetting?

Answer 12

The mental state you are in at the time of learning can also act as a cue.

Question 13

Evaluate retrieval failure explanations?

Answer 13

• Lots of research support (Tulving and Pearlstone demonstrated power of retrieval cues, Abernethy demonstrated the power of context dependant learning in a field exp).
• There is real world application e.g. when taking exams. Abernethy said it is important to be in the same room you revised in when taking exams, Smith said just thinking of the room is just as effective.
• Retrieval cues do not always work. The outshining hypothesis states that a cue’s effectiveness is reduced by the presence of better cues. Smith and Vela say context effects are largely eliminated when learning meaningful material.

Question 14

Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony