AS Psychology Coursework (Edexcel)

Introduction

My investigation will be on Cue dependent forgetting. This theory of memory suggests that forgetting occurs as a result of missing cues that were present at the time the memory was encoded. According to this when the conditions of encoding are the same recall is much easier. Tulving explained to forms of Cue dependent forgetting , state dependent forgetting and context dependent forgetting.

State dependent forgetting occurs as we are not in the same state of mind as we were when learning the information i.e. the emotional and mental state of the individual. For example they could be happy, depressed, upset or under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

There is some evidence that the physiological state or mood might also affect retrieval. Goodwin et al (1969) found that heavy drinkers who learn things in a drunken state are more likely to recall them in a similar state.

The basis of context dependent forgetting is the environment, failure of

recall may occur when the context is different, remembering may take place when the context in which the memory was encoded is repeated.

Godden and Baddeley ( 1975) set out to test learning and recall in two different environmental situations. The participants were deep see divers, and the experiment compared memory both an land and underwater in diving equipment. The experiment tool place by the side of a swimming pool (land) and under ten feet of water in the pool. There were four sets of experiments, including two controls, each using the task of learning a list of forty words and attempting to recall them. Recall was better when it took place in the same environment as learning, because physical cues aid retrieval. Changing environments leads to a lack of cues and retrieval failure.

My study will be solely on Context dependent forgetting.

Smith (1970) gave participants a list of 80 words to learn while sitting in a distinctive basement room. The following day, he tested some participants in the same basement room and others in a fifth floor room with completely different furnishings and atmosphere. Average recall for the basement group was 18 items, but for those in the fifth floor room, recall averages 12 items. A third group were tested in the upstairs room, but first instructed to imagine themselves back in the basement room. These students recalled an average of 17 items. For the third group despite being tested in another room from when the first learned the words, their imagination of the basement room allowed the context to be repeated and subsequently recall was improved compared to the participants in the fifth floor room.

The information in my study they’ll be asked to recall is a Road traffic accident and the events before and after. The reason why I am conducting this is to put Tulvings theory to test, and to replicate the study of Smith(1970), with alterations

The aim of my study is to find out whether or not participants recall relevant information better when they are or are not in the same place they learned the information.

Hypothesis – Participants who are asked to recall information in the same place they learned the information are more likely to ...