interference

• a theory in forgetting in long term memory and this is when one memory gets in the way of another - can block the pathway or forget the memory entirely
• proactive interference - old information is disrupting new information

  e.g. memorising a new phone number and the old one carries on interfering
• retro active interference - new information disrupts old

  e.g. when learning a new language for example spanish while already knowing french the new spanish words may begin to interfere with the old french words
• similarity - interference is more likely to occur when the two pieces of information are similar this is due to response competition
• time sensitivity - interference is less likely to occur when there is a larger gap between the instances of learning
• • schmidt et al (2000) investigated retroactive interference using the memory of childhood street names
  • 11-79 year olds were sent a questionnaire containing a map of the area around their old school without street names
  • it was found the more times an individual moved home, the fewer street names recalled
  • a negative correlation between number of times moved house and street names recalled
• • greenberg and underwood (1950) asked participants to learn 10 paired word lists
  • then gave the participants 48hrs before recall and this was repeated four times
  • it was found the number of correctly recalled word pairs decreased the more word pairs had been learnt previously
  • thus provides evidence for pro-active interference, as the previously learnt word combinations caused confusion in the coding of the later word first
• • mcgeoch found that interference was worse when memories are similar
  • studied retro active interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
  • participants had to learn a list of words until they could remember this with 100% accuracy
  • then they were provided with a second list
• retrieval failure is not being able to access memory's that are there
• cue dependent forgetting - information in LTM but forgetting happens due to absence of appropriate cues/ prompts encoded a the same time
• context dependent cues - aspects of the external environment work as cues to memory. so being in a different place would inhibit memory as we would lack environmental cues
• • godden and baddeley (1975) studied divers, asking them to learn new material either on dry land or while underwater
  • then tested either on dry land or water it was found recall was worse if in different context and best if same
  • for example information was learnt under water was recalled best under water
  • this suggests being in the same environment for both learning and recall aids recall by providing context cues
• state dependent cues - aspects of our internal environment work as cues to memory. so being in a different emotional state would inhibit memory as we would lack state dependent cues