Evaluation of the Cue Dependency Theory

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  • Evaluation of the Cue - Dependency Theory
    • There's considerable evidence supporting cue dependency theory
      • Godden & Baddeley (1975): divers could recall words better if they had learnt words in one environment and then recalled them in the same environment
      • Bower (1981) used hypnosis to manipulate a participant's mood and found more information was recalled if they were in the same mood at both recall and encoding
    • Evidences used to support cue dependency theory are experiments so may lack ecological validity
      • They test memory on simple word lists rather than more complex everyday memory tasts so cues may have a different effect on forgetting in real life
    • There are lots of practical applications in terms of enhancing people's recall by introducing context or state cues
      • Students can enhance their recall in an exam if they can imagine the classroom they learnt the information in, reactivating cues present at initial encoding
      • People can reactivate cues at the scene of a crime in order to increase recall of eye witness - this has been successful on programmes like Crime Watch
    • Face validity - it provides a credible explanation of the experience many of us have when we return to an old place we haven't been to for a while and we can suddenly recall events that happened there
      • You might try to recall primary school memories without success but suddenly remember much more if you visited
    • Does not explain every instance of retrieval failure (forgetting)
      • Freud argued that we 'choose' to forget events that cause us anxiety when recalled - motivated forgetting or repression
      • Anxiety provoking memory still exists but you are unable to access it or even realize that it exists
        • Repression protexts us from anxiety and allows us to bury traumatic events in our unconscious minds

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