Retrieving Information

Retrieval Cues Retrieval cue: A stimulus for remembering What helps people remember? Retrieval cue: A stimulus for remembering The more cues stored with a piece of information, the easier the retrieval

Context Dependent Learning aka = Encoding Specificity

Retrieval Cues Context-Dependent Memory State-Dependent Memory Putting yourself back in the context of something can prime your retrieval. Recall is better in the room you learned in Leave room to get something, forget, come back & remember State-Dependent Memory Mood-congruent situations: you remember better when in same mood you learned it.

Recall & Recognition Recall: This is a type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues. Essay, short answer, fill in blank types of tests Sometimes recall fails (at least temporarily) This is called a retrieval failure “Tip of the tongue” phenomenon.

Recall Serial position effect - tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information. Primacy effect - tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows. Recency effect - tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the information ahead of it.

Recall & Recognition Recognition Recognition - the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact. Multiple choice, matching-type of tests Tends to be fairly accurate, especially with images However, there can be a false positive Constructive processing: people alter or revise their memories based on new information.

Eyewitness Testimony Constructive processing: What people see and hear after the fact can change their memories Eyewitness testimony not always reliable Ronald Cotton trial

Misinformation effect Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.