I don’t know give us a clue??

Either The information is not available as we have failed to store it …….. Why might this happen?The information is not available as we have failed to store it …….. Why might this happen? or It has decayed from our memory or It is stored somewhere but we cannot find it

Cue-dependent forgetting Our main theory of forgetting is known as cue-dependent theory. This theory suggests forgetting is simply an accessibility problem. stored somewhere In other words it is stored somewhere but we cannot find it! The cue-dependent theory of forgetting (Tulving 1975)

The theory states that forgetting occurs if the right cues are not available for memory retrieval Tulving claims that there are two events necessary for recall: A memory trace – information which is laid down and retained in a store as a result of the original perception of an event A retrieval cue – information present in the individual’s cognitive environment at the time of retrieval that matches the environment at the time of encoding

Thinking like a psychologist Talk to the person behind or in front of you Between you can you come up with a way of finding out if a memory is actually stored even though the person does not know that they have that memory?

Cue Dependency Experiment Tulving came up with a simple but brilliant idea

Ethics... This is a mini experiment to look at the effects of cue-dependency in memory retrieval You have the right to withdraw at any time You will not be harmed during this experiment Put your hands up if you consent to take part... Have I forgotton anything?

Instructions You will see a number of Countries Please write down the capital city for each country Do NOT confer You MUST conduct this experiment in silence Ready? Then we’ll begin

Germany

Australia

USA

Spain

Netherlands

Greece

China

Japan

Portugal

Cues help Give us a clue….what does it begin with?

Instructions You will now see the same list of countries but the first letter of each capital city will be given to you as a prompt. Have another look and see if you can get any more answers. Make sure you note which ones you were able to get when you had the prompt

Germany - B

Australia - C

USA - W

Spain - M

Netherlands - A

Greece - A

China - B

Japan - T

Portugal - L

Now check your answers... Germany – Berlin Australia - Canberra USA – Washington DC Spain – Madrid Netherlands – Amsterdam Greece – Athens China – Beijing Japan – Tokyo Portugal - Lisbon

Quick test What type of research method did Tulving and Pearlstone use? a.Field Experiment b.Lab Experiment c.Natural/Quasi Experiment d.Questionnaire

Answer

Can you name two problems with using the experimental method?

Possible Answers... ecological validityIt is an artificial situation – people don’t usually have to recall things under lab conditions – therefore low in ecological validity demand characteristicsThere are more risk of demand characteristics – ppts trying to work out the purpose of the experiment and changing the way they behave

Even with tight control There may still be some extraneous variables over which the experimenter has no control such as whether a pp has drunk caffeine prior to the experiment which might affect their recall. They could be drunk/hungover/sick ppt variablesThis are called ppt variables

Situational variables can be controlled though! situational variablesList as many situational variables as you can. These are the things you would try to keep the same for all ppts

Practical Applications How could you use this theory to help patients with dementia? How could you use this theory to help eyewitnesses recall events?

Classic Experiment Tulving & Pearlstone Tulving & Pearlstone (1966) When I say ‘turn over’, please turn over the sheet and try to memorise the words on the word list. You have only one minute to do this

How many words did you recall? Swap your sheet with your neighbour for marking

There were 24 words in total FruitVegetablesTreesFlowers BananaCarrotsOakLily AppleLeeksBeechTulip OrangePotatoesChestnutRose GrapeAuberginesBirchDaffodil MelonTurnipPalmBluebell

I used independent measures Can you: Identify the IV Identify the DV Write a one tailed hypothesis Identify one weakness with the experimental design

Tulving & Pearlstone Tulving & Pearlstone (1966) Pps were read lists of words that fell into categories e.g. types of dog, flowers,colours In condition one pps recalled the words without cues (free recall) In condition two they were given category titles as cues (cued recall)

Results In the cued recall condition, pps recalled more words Category titles are a form of ‘semantic cue’ This demonstrates that if we have access to the category words we recall more words!

From his research Tulving went onto develop a theory based on the encoding specificity principle Which states that “the greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the memory”

HW assignment prepare a presentation for your first lesson next week You will be teaching the rest of the class describe and evaluate one other theory of forgetting