SECTION: Forgetting
TOPIC: Memory
SIX SENTENCE SUMMARY OF KEY IDEAS (K/U)
1. Forgetting is the failure to retrieve memories, caused by the inability to access stored memory (accessibility issue) or
when memory is no longer held in storage (availability issue.)
2. Retrieval Failure = when information is unable to be found due to insufficient cues = an accessibility issue.
- Cues serve as a prompt/reminder to activate memory recall
- Retrieval failure can be due to the lack of external or internal cues…
Context Dependent Forgetting
External cues are absent due to a change in environment from the time of coding to the time of recall. (When the
environment changes there are no familiar cues that can activate a memory to be recalled.)
State Dependent Forgetting
Internal cues are absent due to a physical, emotional mood change from time of coding to the time of recall. A person
may feel differently (drunk vs sober) from the original time of encoding causing a lack of internal recall.
RELEVENT EVIDENCE:
- Money was hidden by a group of individuals under the influence of marijuana, when they were sober (a change of
state) they were unable to recall where it was, when high again however, they remembered and found the money
= State Dependent
- When a group of deep sea divers were training, some learned on dry land and some underwater, when asked to
recall what they were taught in the opposite place recall was poor = Context Dependent
- Researcher found recall is more likely when material was learned while happy and then recalled while happy,
opposed to sad/angry = State Dependent
- A group of student were taught material by a teacher in classroom, when tested recall was good, but when the
teacher was replaced by a sub and in another room recall was poor = Context Dependent
PEEL STRENGTH
PEEL WEAKNESS
A collection of research both from labs and natural
observations have been formed (as of above) showing there Some research studies often use extreme context or
is strong evidence, increasing reliability and validity. state changes to test retrieval failure (the influence
of drugs or the change in training environment.)
This causes a lack of ecological validity as
PEEL STRENGTH participants cannot represent real life situations of
Practical application from research, for example the teacher people in a natural state unable to remember –
and student study show the replication of context lacks mundane realism.
(environment) can enhance memory. This why crime scenes
are reconstructed, to prompt witnesses memory.
TOPIC: Memory
SIX SENTENCE SUMMARY OF KEY IDEAS (K/U)
1. Forgetting is the failure to retrieve memories, caused by the inability to access stored memory (accessibility issue) or
when memory is no longer held in storage (availability issue.)
2. Retrieval Failure = when information is unable to be found due to insufficient cues = an accessibility issue.
- Cues serve as a prompt/reminder to activate memory recall
- Retrieval failure can be due to the lack of external or internal cues…
Context Dependent Forgetting
External cues are absent due to a change in environment from the time of coding to the time of recall. (When the
environment changes there are no familiar cues that can activate a memory to be recalled.)
State Dependent Forgetting
Internal cues are absent due to a physical, emotional mood change from time of coding to the time of recall. A person
may feel differently (drunk vs sober) from the original time of encoding causing a lack of internal recall.
RELEVENT EVIDENCE:
- Money was hidden by a group of individuals under the influence of marijuana, when they were sober (a change of
state) they were unable to recall where it was, when high again however, they remembered and found the money
= State Dependent
- When a group of deep sea divers were training, some learned on dry land and some underwater, when asked to
recall what they were taught in the opposite place recall was poor = Context Dependent
- Researcher found recall is more likely when material was learned while happy and then recalled while happy,
opposed to sad/angry = State Dependent
- A group of student were taught material by a teacher in classroom, when tested recall was good, but when the
teacher was replaced by a sub and in another room recall was poor = Context Dependent
PEEL STRENGTH
PEEL WEAKNESS
A collection of research both from labs and natural
observations have been formed (as of above) showing there Some research studies often use extreme context or
is strong evidence, increasing reliability and validity. state changes to test retrieval failure (the influence
of drugs or the change in training environment.)
This causes a lack of ecological validity as
PEEL STRENGTH participants cannot represent real life situations of
Practical application from research, for example the teacher people in a natural state unable to remember –
and student study show the replication of context lacks mundane realism.
(environment) can enhance memory. This why crime scenes
are reconstructed, to prompt witnesses memory.
