Retroactive Interference

• What might happen when you change your phone password?

  You may forget your old password
• What is retroactive interference?

  New learning hinders recall of old information
• What impact do learning conditions have on retroactive interference?

  They affect memory encoding and protection
• How does learning similar lists affect memory recall according to McGeoch and McDonald?

  It increases interference and confusion
• How does learning a new language demonstrate retroactive interference?

  It makes recalling earlier vocabulary harder
• What happens when you learn Spanish after French?

  You may struggle to recall French vocabulary
• What effect does studying history after chemistry have?

  It can make recalling chemical formulas harder
• How can studying different subjects lead to retroactive interference?

  It can hinder recall of previously learned material
• What is retroactive interference?

  New information overwrites old information
• How does retroactive interference affect memory retrieval?

  New information interferes with older memories
• How does proactive interference affect learning?

  It makes it harder to learn new material
• What are the key differences between retroactive and proactive interference?

  • Direction of Interference:
  • Retroactive: New to Old
  • Proactive: Old to New
  • Examples:
  • Retroactive: Learning a new language interferes with previous vocabulary
  • Proactive: Old phone number hinders memorizing a new one
  • Mechanism:
  • Retroactive: Overwrites or weakens old memories
  • Proactive: Makes it harder to learn new material
• What happens when you learn Spanish after French?

  Increased confusion due to similarity
• How does retroactive interference affect memory?

  It makes recalling earlier learned information harder
• What happens when you learn something new?

  It gets encoded into your memory
• How does the similarity of memories affect retroactive interference?

  If memories are similar, interference increases
• What did Wickens (1952) demonstrate about studying different subjects?

  • Switching subjects improves memory recall
  • Example: History and mathematics studied alternately remembered better than the same subject repeatedly
• How does retroactive interference affect language learning?

  • Mixing vocabulary from different languages
  • Example: Studying Spanish after French
• What is the significance of similarity between memories in retroactive interference?

  Similar information clashes, hindering recall
• How does the similarity of new information to old information affect interference?

  The more similar, the stronger the interference
• What year did Wickens conduct his study on retroactive interference?

  1952
• Why might changing passwords lead to forgetting old ones?

  New password interferes with recall of old password
• What did McGeoch and McDonald (1931) find about learning similar lists?

  • Greater interference occurs with similar lists
  • Example: "apple, banana, orange" after "dog, cat, bird" causes less confusion than "grape, plum, kiwi"
• How does time elapsed between learning affect retroactive interference?

  Longer gaps weaken the interference
• What is retroactive interference?

  Interference of new memories with old ones
• What is proactive interference?

  Old information inhibits learning new information
• What factors affect the magnitude of retroactive interference?

  • Similarity of memories
  • Time elapsed between learning
  • Learning conditions
• What role does time play in memory retention?

  Time between learning periods affects memory retention
• What is the relationship between new learning and old memories in retroactive interference?

  New learning interferes with the recall of old memories
• What year did McGeoch and McDonald conduct their study on retroactive interference?

  1931
• What are the key stages involved in the mechanism of retroactive interference?

  Encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories
• What does retroactive interference illustrate about memory retrieval?

  New information can disrupt retrieval of old memories
• What occurs during the storage of new information?

  It can overwrite or weaken old memories
• Why might changing passwords lead to retroactive interference?

  It causes confusion between old and new passwords
• Why might learning conditions be important in memory retention?

  They influence how well memories are encoded