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?
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.
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
Tulving came
up with a
simple but
brilliant idea
Experiment
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...
• It is an artificial situation – people don’t
usually have to recall things under lab
conditions – therefore low in ecological
validity
• There 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
• This are called ppt variables
Situational variables can be
controlled though!
• List 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 (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
Fruit
Vegetables Trees
Flowers
Banana
Carrots
Oak
Lily
Apple
Leeks
Beech
Tulip
Orange
Potatoes
Chestnut
Rose
Grape
Aubergines Birch
Daffodil
Melon
Turnip
Bluebell
Palm
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 (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