Describe and Evaluate Cue Dependency

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Describe and evaluate cue dependent theory of forgetting. (12) Your evaluation should include: • Comparison with one other theory of forgetting • Strengths and/or weaknesses of the cue dependent theory Description of cue dependent theory • When cues present at encoding are not present at retrieval then forgetting may occur/eq; • Cues (or prompts) are like additional pieces of information that guide us to the information we are seeking a bit like the contents page of a book/eq; • These memory cues may be necessary to access information that is available but not accessible/eq; • There are two types of cues, the first is context which are environmental cues such as your classroom/eq; • For example when someone goes upstairs to get something and forgets what it was, they might remember again when they are back downstairs in the same place (context) they first thought about it/eq; • The second is state which are cues internal to the person such as being excited or afraid/eq; • For example if you learn something when in a relaxed mood but cannot recall it when in a tense mood/eq Evaluation of cue dependent theory • Cue-dependent forgetting can be supported by the fact that most people find that their recollections of childhood become fainter as they grow older. However, if they return to the area they lived in as children, the streets, houses and school often serve to bring the past alive/eq; • The physical environment of childhood can act as an effective cue proving that many memory traces established a long time ago can be retrieved/eq; • The problem is we don't know what information is in the memory trace and which is extracted from the retrieval cue. So it may be difficult to know in some circumstances whether a true memory is accessed as a result of a cue or if the memory is a reconstruction/eq; • Baddeley argues the effects of

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