Even when information has been carefully stored in LTM and retrieved on previous occasions, there is no guarantee that it will still be retrievable next time we need it.
Interference theory suggests that we forget more as time goes by solely because of growing interference from competing memories, especially if they are similar.
Forgetting is caused by competing memories, either because existing memories interfere with the learning of new information (proactiveinterference) or because new information interferes with previously learnt information (retroactive interference).
· interference is where different pieces of information become confused in memory
· proactive interference is where old learning affects recall of new information
· retroactive interference is where new learning affects recall of old information
·
newer information may overwrite earlier information
· interference is morelikely to occur when the pieces of information are similar
· response competition occurs at the moment of retrieval when similar memories compete for access
