Transcript Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives
• To understand and evaluate trace decay
and displacement theory
• To know research relevant to these
theories of forgetting
Major mistakes from the essay are below – did you make any?
Make your corrections before the lesson begins!!
1. You must introduce things as evaluation to guarantee yourself
A02 marks e.g. in evaluation….
2. Fully explain your evaluation points (PEE)
3. The Morris study does go against the levels of processing
explanation because it says acoustic info was remembered
better – but WHY was this? Under which circumstances?
Starter
• January 2009
• 3 (a) Outline what is meant by retrieval failure. Briefly explain how it
might affect a student’s ability to recall information in an examination
room after learning the information while in his bedroom. (4 marks)
• [AO1 = 2 AO2 = 2]
• (AO1) Up to 2 marks for knowledge of retrieval failure (credit context
dependent forgetting).
• (AO2) Up to 2 marks for application to the example.
• Possible answer:
• Information is stored in LTM (1) but not accessible because the cues
needed to access it are not present. (1). Therefore in this case, the
student learned while in a bedroom but this context does not match
his recall environment of the exam room (1). So he will not be able
to recall the information (1).
• Accept other valid answers such as state cues.
Introduction
• Each of you has a table which
summarises whether the
theory of forgetting relates
specifically to long term or
short-term memory
• You need to think of a pictorial
representation of each type of
forgetting (you have the
descriptions of each type if you
can’t remember from last time)
• The link to a picture will help
you to remember it!!
Short-term memory
Short-term and
long-term
memory
Long-term memory
Decay
Interference
Interference
Displacement
Decay
Lack of
consolidation
Retrieval failure
Motivated
forgetting
Intro: think of a picture to go with
each theory of forgetting…
•
Trace decay explains forgetting as the fading of neurological trace which is formed
when a stimulus is encoded.
•
Displacement is based on the limited capacity of STM because when the seven
‘slots’ are full, new information pushes out the oldest information in short-term store.
•
Retrieval failure is concerned with cues, both internal and external, which aid
retrieval of memories. However, the research into retrieval failure has often involved
extreme conditions and therefore has lacked ecological validity.
•
There are two types of interference: retroactive and proactive. Support for
interference theory of forgetting comes largely from laboratory studies and these may
not be relevant to forgetting in real life.
•
Lack of consolidation as a theory of forgetting refers to the necessary period of time
required so that memories can be ‘embedded’ in long-term store, and if disruption
occurs during the consolidation period then memories of events just prior to the
incident are lost.
•
Motivated forgetting refers to Freud’s theory of repression, which is when anxietyprovoking material is pushed into the unconscious and becomes inaccessible.
Main: research to support,
evaluation
• Each of you has a worksheet which
summarises trace decay and displacement
theory, a piece of research which you can
use with these theories as well as some
general evaluation points
• TASK: Read through the info in your
textbooks (pages 182-183), complete
the missing information, answer the
questions about the study (at the end)
Can you use the below stimulus to explain how Waugh and Norman’s
study provides support for / refutes the theories of trace decay and
displacement?
Main: review
• http://psych.fullerton.edu/navarick/dord.ppt
#261,6,Forgetting from Short-Term
Memory: Decay or Displacement?
• Use the above stimulus to explain how
Waugh and Norman’s study provides
support for / refutes the theories of trace
decay and displacement?
Plenary
• June 2010
• Describe and evaluate two explanations of
forgetting. Refer to evidence in your
answer.(10 marks)
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AO1 Up to 5 marks for identifying and elaborating two explanations. Likely
explanations:
interference theory: pro- and retro-active inhibition; retrieval failure: lack of
state/context
cues/organisation; lack of consolidation: interruption of the time period/physical
disruption; motivated forgetting: repression/inaccessible memory; trace decay: fading
of
memory due to passage of time; displacement: limited capacity of STM. Credit
description of evidence up to 2 marks. Likely studies: Jenkins and Dallenbach (1924),
Keppel and Underwood (1962), Schmidt et al (2000), Tulving and Pearlstone (1966),
Bower et al (1969), Godden and Baddeley (1975), Drachman and Sahakian (1979)
Yarnell and Lynch (1970), Waugh and Norman (1965), Glucksberg and Lloyd (1967),
Williams (1994), Groome and Soureti (2004).
AO2 Up to 5 marks for analysis and evaluation of the two explanations. Likely points:
why
memory is affected according to the explanation(s) chosen, evaluation of studies of
forgetting if made relevant to the explanations. Comparison of explanations. Credit
use
of examples up to 1 mark for each explanation. Credit use of evidence.
Maximum 6 marks – only one explanation
Maximum 6 marks – no evidence
There were some very good answers to this question; however, there was also
evidence of muddle in many essays. Candidates who chose to describe and evaluate
interference often confused retroactive and proactive interference. Lack of
consolidation was often poorly described as information failing to move from STM to
LTM. Candidates then found it difficult to explain why the concussed football players
had recalled information immediately but were unable to recall the same information a
few minutes later. Few recognised that this explanation relates to biological
disruption. Motivated forgetting was often described as ‘forgetting on purpose.’