Question

Explain the difference between encoding failure and retrieval failure.

Answer 1

Encoding primarily deals with attention. If an individual attempts to learn information, but the information fails to enter long term memory because not enough attention is given to it, encoding failure occurs. For example, if we are trying to memorise the important dates of the Amercian Civil War but watching television at the same time, we are likely to experience a failure at encoding. Whereas, retrieval failure occurs when an individual has already stored the information in the long term memory but is unable to bring the information to awareness. Say, we’re trying to remember the name of an actor from a movie, but we can't seem to put a finger on his name.