Active learning ideas
Forgetting is not just a failure of memory; it is a complex psychological process. This topic explores two main explanations: interference and retrieval failure. Students look at how similar memories can get 'tangled' (interference) and how the absence of the right cues can prevent us from accessing stored information (retrieval failure). This is a highly practical topic that students can relate to their own revision and learning experiences.
Activity 01
Students are given the data from Godden and Baddeley's underwater memory study. They must graph the results and explain how the 'matching' versus 'non-matching' environments affected recall.
How does interference cause forgetting in long-term memory?
Activity 02
Students identify examples of proactive and retroactive interference from their own lives, such as calling a new partner by an ex's name or struggling to remember an old phone number. They swap and categorise each other's examples.
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Activity 03
Give students a list of words to learn. Half the class gets a list with category headings (cues), and the other half gets a random list. Compare the recall rates to demonstrate the power of retrieval cues.
How do context and state-dependent cues aid memory retrieval?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Forgetting means the information is gone forever.
Explain that in retrieval failure, the memory is still there but we lack the 'key' (cue) to access it. Using the 'library' analogy, where a book is in the building but misfiled, helps students understand that the trace exists even if it's currently unreachable.
Proactive and retroactive interference are the same.
Clarify that proactive is 'old interfering with new' and retroactive is 'new interfering with old'. Creating mnemonic devices or physical movements to represent the direction of the interference helps students keep them straight.
Methods used in this brief
Models of Memory
A detailed look at the Multi-Store Model and the Working Memory Model. Students will compare how these frameworks explain short-term and long-term memory capacities.
8 methodologies
Eyewitness Testimony
An evaluation of the factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, including misleading information and anxiety. Students will also learn about the cognitive interview technique used by police.
8 methodologies