Reasons for FORGETTING

Reasons for FORGETTING

1. INTERFERENCE

   • Retroactive interference
     • Retro-Backwards
     • Where new information affects the ability to learn new information
   • Proactive interference
     • 'From old to new'
     • Interference where old information inhibits the ability to learn new information
   • Mainly occurs in LTM
   • Similarity
     • McGeoch and McDonald
     • Tested retroactive interference, by changing the amount of similarity between stimulus
       • They were given a list of words to learn till they were 100% accurate
         • Split into 6 groups with variations of similarity of new words to learn
           • Once learnt, participants had to recall first list
             • FOUND- Those who had the most similar list (Synonyms) had the worst recall
     • Research to Support
       • Research conducted into effects of interference is one of the most commonly tested experiments in psychology
         • All producing results replicating that of McGeoch and McDonald
           • This increased number of repeats increases the reliability of the evidence
     • Methodological issues
       • Artificial task- reduce Validity
   • STRENGTHS
     • Baddeley and Hitch- RUGBY STUDY
       • Asked players to recall the teams they had played against in order
         • FOUND- Those players who had missed games were able to recall teams from weeks ago, but those who had continue to play every week struggled to remember sides from weeks ago
           • Interference demonstrated in real-life studies

2. RETRIEVAL FAILURE

   • Context dependent
     • Godden and Baddely
       • Conducted a memory test, changing the context in which P's learnt in
         • In the sea or On land
           • Those who learnt and recalled in the same environment performed better.
             • Accuracy of recall improved by 40%
     • WEAKNESS
       • Depends on the type of memory tested
         • Godden and Baddeley - Repeated the conditions testing recognition rather than recall
           • Found- there was no context dependent effects on accuracy of recognition
     • STRENGTHS
       • Practical Application
         • Taking evidence from the Context dependent research
           • It is important when revising to revise in an environment replicating exam conditions
             • HOWEVER, Baddeley concluded that changes in environment have to be vast before effects of context can be seen
   • State Dependent
     • Carter and Cassaday
       • Conducted a memory test, in which the state participants were in was changed
         • On anti-histamines (drowsy) or normal (alert and awake)
           • When there is a change in state of recall, from state of encoding then ability to recall is worsened
   • Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)
     • Tulving- Reviewed research into retrieval failure
       • Concluded that cues present at encoding need to be present at retrieval, otherwise there will be forgetting
     • WEAKNESS
       • Untestiable
       • Unscientific because it is unfalsifiable
   • WEAKNESS
     • A methodological issue, with state and context dependent memory tests
       • Is that recalling a list of words, isn't an everyday task for most people
         • Therefore, lacking mundane realism and reducing the validity of the research.