Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

244 CHAPTER 6 MemoryFigure 6.7(b) Demonstrationof Retrieval CuesSource: Adapted from Bransford & Stein (1993).Instructions: Do not look back at the list of sentences inFigure 6.7(a). Use the following list as retrieval cues,and now write as many sentences as you can. Besure to keep track of how many you can write down.flashlightsheetrockCDboatdimewine bottleboardpenballoonladderT-shirtforklampshadeshoeguitarscissorsleafbrickknifenewspaperpanbarrelrugorangebathtubYour authors both did much betteron the demonstration in Figure 6.7(b),and you probably did, too. (Sandy got24 of 26, and Don got 26 of 26 words,except that he remembered bedspreadas blanket.) Why the improvement? Inpart (b) you were presented with retrievalcues that helped you access yourstored memories.This exercise demonstrates the differencebetween information that isstored in long-term memory versus theinformation that you can access. Manyof the items on the list that you couldnot recall in part (a) were not forgotten.They were simply inaccessible—until you had a retrieval cue to help jog your memory. This exercise illustrates that manymemories only appear to be forgotten. With the right retrieval cue, you can often accessstored information that seemed to be completely unavailable.Common Retrieval GlitchesThe Tip-of-the-Tongue ExperienceQuick—what was the name of the substance that could kill Superman? What wasthe name of Spiderman’s uncle, who was killed in a robbery? If comic books aren’tyour thing, how about this question: Who wrote the words to “The Star-SpangledBanner”?Did any of these questions leave you feeling as if you knew the answer but justcouldn’t quite recall it? If so, you experienced a common, and frustrating, formof retrieval failure, called the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experience. The TOTexperience refers to the inability to get at a bit of information that you’re absolutelycertain is stored in your memory. Subjectively, it feels as though the informationis very close, but just out of reach—or on the tip of your tongue(Schwartz, 2002).A “Tip-of-the-Fingers” ExperienceAmerican Sign Language (ASL) users sometimeshave a “tip-of-the-fingers” experiencewhen they are sure they know a signbut can’t retrieve it. During a TOT experience,people are often able to rememberthe first letter or sound of the word they’restruggling to remember. Similarly, ASL userstend to remember the hand shape, whichappears as the signer begins to make thesign, rather than later parts of the sign, likethe hand movement. For words that arefinger-spelled, ASL users were more likelyto recall the first letters than later letters(Thompson & others, 2005).