Explanations for forgetting

• What is proactive interference?

  Old information disrupts recall of new information
• What is retroactive interference?

  New information disrupts recall of old information
• What are the two types of interference discussed?

  • Proactive interference
  • Retroactive interference
• How does similarity between information affect interference?

  Similar information increases likelihood of interference
• What role does time sensitivity play in interference?

  Smaller time gaps increase likelihood of interference
• Who conducted research on retroactive interference?

  Schmidt
• What did Schmidt's research find about recalling street names?

  More recent moves led to fewer recalled names
• Who conducted research on proactive interference?

  Greenberg and Underwood
• What was the result of Greenberg and Underwood's study?

  Recall decreased with more learned word lists
• What is cue-dependent forgetting?

  • Information is in long-term memory
  • Cannot access it without correct cues
  • Influenced by encoding specificity principle
• What are context-dependent cues?

  Cues from the external environment
• Which study demonstrated context-dependent cues?

  Godden and Baddeley
• What did Godden and Baddeley's study find about recall?

  Recall was better in the same environment
• What are state-dependent cues?

  Cues from our internal environment
• Which study demonstrated state-dependent cues?

  Overton's research
• What did Overton's study find about recall?

  Recall was better in the same state
• What are category-dependent cues?

  Cues linked to organized information
• Which study provided evidence for category-dependent cues?

  Tulving and Pearlstone
• What did Tulving and Pearlstone's study find?

  Categorized recall was significantly better
• What are the practical applications of forgetting research?

  • Revision strategies for students
  • Improving eyewitness testimony accuracy
  • Cognitive interview techniques
• What does interference theory suggest about forgetting?

  Loss of information may be temporary
• What is a limitation of interference theory?

  It cannot explain all everyday forgetting
• What is a criticism of much memory research?

  It often lacks mundane realism