Explanations for forgetting (interference and retrieval failure)

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  • Created by: floberry1
  • Created on: 15-05-17 10:48
what is interference?
when two pieces of information conflict with each other resulting in either one or both pieces being lost.
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what kind of information does interference interfere with?
long term memories
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what is the cause of not being able to remember information in LTM
not being able to gain access to them; not because it's not there
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how many types of interference are there?
two
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what are they called?
proactive and retroactive interference.
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in what direction are these two types of interference?
proactive= old affecting new. retroactive = new affecting old.
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in what condition is interference made even worse?
when the two pieces of information are very similar.
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who carried out a study proving this?
Mcgeoch and Mcdonald
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how many groups were there in their study?
six
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what was the procedure of the experiment?
people had to learn a set of words to 100% accurate recall before learning a new set of words which varied from the originals
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how many groups were there that had to learn different second sets of words?
six
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what were the six variations?
words that meant similar things. words that meant different things. nonsense syllables. random digits. words unrelated to the originals and a control group who learned no new words.
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what were the findings?
that the words that were similar to the originals had the worst recall.
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what does this show?
that interference is strongest when the information is most similar.
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what support is there for this explanation of forgetting?
there are loads of laboratory experiments studying the effects of interference
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why is this support/evidence valid?
because the studies are lab experiments, they control for extraneous variables allowing us to be confident that interference is at least one explanation for forgetting
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why do these lab experiments lack ecological validity?
because the material is often artificial. a list of words has far less real life application than friends birthdays and peoples faces etc.
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what research did Burke and Skrull conduct
real life application of the interference theory - they used adverts in magazines
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what were their findings?
they found that the different adverts in magazines did interfere with peoples ability to recall certain aspects about them. the similarity of the adverts had a major effect on the ability for some people to remember the details.
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what is another limitation of lab experiments of interference?
the whole experiment takes place over a very short period of time and therefore isn't very reflective of real life interference where there may be even years between conflicting memories
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what is a cue?
a cue is a triggering piece of information that allows access to information stored in LTM.
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how do cues work>
cues are either directly associated (linked meaning) or indirectly associated (simply learnt at the same time)
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what is retrieval failure?
not being able to access information in LTM.
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Who created the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving
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what does the encoding specificity principle state?
that in order for a cue to be useful; it has t be present at the time of encoding as well as at the time of retrieval.
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what are the two types of forgetting called?
context-dependent forgetting and state-dependent forgetting.
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in reference to context - dependent forgetting what study did Godden and Baddeley carry out?
a study of deep sea divers
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what was the procedure of their study?
divers were asked to learn a set of words and then recall them in different locations.
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how many conditions were there in GOdden and Baddeleys study?
four
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what were they?
1) learn on land - recall on land. 2) learn on land - recall in sea. 3) lear in sea - recall on land. 4) learn in sea - recall in sea
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what were the finings of this study?
accurate recall was 40% lower when the conditions of learning and recall did not match.
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what did Baddeley say in terms of how sensitive context effects are?
he said that the context would have to be dramatically different to show any real effect. in real life - context effects are very weak
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why is this a limitation of the context-dependent explanation of forgetting?
because it means that real life applications of context dependent forgetting don't actually explain much.
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who conducted a study into state dependent forgetting?
cassaday and carter.
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what did they do?
they gave their ppts anti histamine drugs which made them drowsy (a state that differs from 'normal')
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what was the procedure?
the ppts had to learn a set of words and then recall them in differing conditions
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what were the conditions?
1) learn on drug - recall on drug. 2)learn on drug - recall not on drug. 3)learn not on drug - recall not on drug. 4)learn not on drug - recall on drug
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why were these conditions used?
to demonstrate the relationship between learning and recall when in two different psychological states.
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what were the findings?
when the two conditions of learning and recall were mismatched; the accuracy of recall was significantly worse!
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what is smell an example of?
a context-related cue
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how much supporting evidence of the retrieval failure theory of forgetting is there?
a lot. there are a lot of studies supporting this theory?
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why is this such a strength?
because supporting research strengthens the valid of an explanation and increases the reliability.
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what is the limitation with the encoding specificity principle?
it can not be tested. it is untestable and therefore not proven. there is no way to tell if a cue has actually been encoded.
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Card 2

Front

what kind of information does interference interfere with?

Back

long term memories

Card 3

Front

what is the cause of not being able to remember information in LTM

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

how many types of interference are there?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

what are they called?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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