Forgetting

• What is interference?

  Interference is when one memory disturbs the ability to recall another memory.
• What is proactive interference?

  Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information interferes with new information.
• What is retroactive interference?

  Retroactive interference occurs when a new memory affects the recall of old memories.
• Who conducted a study on the effects of interference on memory recall in 1931?

  McGeach and MacDonald
• What was the aim of McGeach and MacDonald's study?

  The aim was to investigate the level of retroactive interference on memory recall by changing the similarity between two sets of material.
• What was the procedure used in McGeach and MacDonald's study?

  • Participants learned a list of 10 words until they could recall them with 100% accuracy.
  • They then learned a new list with 6 different groups learning different types of lists:
  • Group 1: synonyms
  • Group 2: antonyms
  • Group 3: unrelated words
  • Group 4: nonsense syllables
  • Group 5: 3-digit values
  • Group 6: control group with no interference
• What were the results?

  Control group recalled 45%, Group 1 recalled 12%. This concluded that interference is strongest when memories are similar
• What did Baddeley and Hitch (1977) study in relation to memory recall?

  They studied rugby players' ability to recall the names of teams they recently played.
• What did Baddeley and Hitch find regarding recall and decay?

  They found that recall was not due to decay, as recall was equally good regardless of the time since the games but was related to the amount of intervening games.
• What does this prove?

  proves interference is a reason of forgetting.
• What did Tulving and Psotka (1971) investigate in their study?

  They investigated the effects of interference on recall using 5 lists of words 24 organized into 6 obvious categories.
• What happens to recall as additional lists are learned in Tulving and Psotka's study?

  Recall falls as each additional list is learned due to interference.
• What happened once they were told the category name?

  Recall rose to 70% again. This suggest the words were in the LTM but interference prevented access.