Retrieval Cues

Everyone has moments where we forget something, we had something that we told ourselves to do, but for some reason the information won’t just “come out” at the time that we need it. Forgetting is the failure to retrieve information (Goldstein, 2011, p. 181). Often, we try to give ourselves hints to remember something. These hints can be referred to as retrieval cues. Retrieval cues are “words or other stimuli that can help us retrieve information that is stored in our memories” (Goldstein, 2011, p. 182).

I have always been horrible at remembering passwords, I cannot seem to ever remember more than password. Unfortunately, nowadays most websites have complex requirements for your password, they want you to use a capital letter, a number, symbol, etc. all within one password. This is a lot more than what my mind can store for a password. For whatever reason, I never seem to keep a log of my passwords, which would make my life so much easier. So in order to get myself to remember different passwords, I give myself verbal hints for the password that I may have used. These verbal hints are referred to as cued recall, where you are presented with retrieval cues to help remember a stimuli that you had encountered in the past, typically via the form of a word or a phrase (Goldstein, 2011, p. 182). For example, to help remember my password, if my password would include my nephews name, I would put a hint for myself that would say something like “what is the name of your oldest nephew?”

Timo Mantyla’s 1986 word experiment demonstrates that retrieval cues provide extremely important information for the process of retrieval but it also states that retrieval cues are more effective when the person that creates the cue is the same person who needs to remember the information (Goldstein, 2011, p. 183). In my password recollection issue, as I mentioned I would use the question above as a hint, if my password includes my nephew’s name, however, I only have one nephew. This question works best for me because is very easy for me to remember that I only have one nephew. Anybody else who looks at this hint, may think that I have more than one nephew, thus the hint may not do anything for them, as they don’t have all of the information that is required to answer the question. It’s almost like trying to find an address without the street number.

Retrieval cues don’t always have to be in the form of a word or a phrase. They can also be a particular scent, a location, or even a sound. If you were to return to the location where a memory was first acquired, you have a greater chance of remembering an event that took place there. If you heard a song that you had not heard in years, it can bring you back to the days when you were first introduced to the song and what you were doing at that time. Scent is also a potent retrieval cue. I remember that my boyfriend wore the same cologne, for years, I had that scent embedded into my senses. Whenever, I would be on the street, if someone else was wearing the same cologne and I got the slightest hint of that particular cologne, I would automatically think about him and look around to make sure he wasn’t around.

In conclusion, our memories have a great power of obtaining and retaining information. The information may not always seem like it is accessible at the time that we need it, these are the times when we “forget” things. Things aren’t simply lost in our brains, after we have experienced a stimuli, things don’t disappear, they simply aren’t retrieved. Retrieval cues can serve to help us remember things more easily. You can do like me, and give yourself cued recalls to help remember a password, or you can revisit the location where an event first took place. Sound and smell can also aid in helping remember things. “Successful retrieval depends on the ability of retrieval cues” (Griggs, 2012).

Goldstein, E. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Griggs, R. (2012). Psychology: A concise introduction (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth.

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