Cue-dependent forgetting, also known as retrieval failure, is the inability to recall information because the appropriate retrieval cues are absent, even though the memory trace itself is still available in storage. Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) introduced the distinction between availability (information stored) and accessibility (information made retrievable).Research consistently supports this view. Experiments by Tulving and colleagues demonstrated that "forgotten" information can be recovered when specific cues are provided, such as category names for words in a list. Hultsch (1975) found that adult age differences in retrieval were attributable to both cue-dependent (accessibility of categories) and trace-dependent (availability of words per category) forgetting. Arbuckle (1974) extended this to paired-associate learning, showing that shifts from strong (noun) to weak (number) cues caused forgetting, while shifts from weak to strong cues led to recovery.Retrieval cues can be semantic (e.g., category names), state-dependent (e.g., emotional or physical state), or context-dependent (e.g., environmental surroundings). For instance, deep-sea divers recalled words better when tested in the same environment they learned them. Perfect et al. (2004) further showed that retrieval-induced forgetting is cue-dependent, not a general inhibitory process, implying "transfer appropriate forgetting" where forgetting only occurs when practice and test cues match. This highlights that forgetting is often a problem of accessing information rather than its permanent loss.

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