Interference theory

• What is interference?

  When one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten
• what does interference mainly give an explanation for?

  LTM
• what happens when interference occurs between memories?

  • makes it harder for us to locate them.
  • this is experienced as forgetting
• what are the two different interferences?

  • proactive
  • retroactive
• what is proactive interference?

  when an older memory interferes with a newer one
• what is retroactive interference?

  when a newer memory interferes with an older one
• when is the degree of forgetting greater??

  when memories are similar
• who are the key psychologist for the experiment on effects of similarity?

  mcgeoch and McDonald 1931
• what did they study?

  retroactive interferences
• how did they study retroactive interference?

  changed the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials
• what did participants have to do in the experiment?

  had to learn list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. they then learnt a new list
• what was the condition in group 1?

  synonyms
• what was the condition in group 2 ?

  antonyms
• what was the condition in group 3?

  unrelated words to the original ones
• what was the condition in group 4?

  nonsense syllables
• what was the condition in group 5?

  3 digit numbers
• what was the condition in group 6?

  no new list
• what are synonyms?

  these were words with the same meaning to the original ones
• what are antonyms?

  these were words wit opposite meanings to the original ones
• what are nonsense syllables?

  syllables with no meaning that’s are often used in memory experiments.
• what did the participants then do after the conditions?

  recalled original list
• what were the findings of the experiment?

  • synonyms produced the worst recall
  • interference strongest with similar memories
• with what condition was recall best?

  the condition with no new list
• Evaluate evidence from lab studies as a strength

  • Consistently demonstrated findings.
  • Studies showed both types of interference are likely to be common ways we forget from LTM.
  • Extraneous variables controlled.
  • Increased validity
• evaluate artificial materials as a limiation

  • greater chances of interference being demonstrated in lab rather than real-life.
  • recalling lists of words is different to what we try to recall in real life, such as: names, birthdays or ingredient.
  • interference may not explain forgetting in real life settings
• who were the key psychologists for the real life study?

  baddeley and hitch 1977
• evaluate real life studies as a strength

  • investigated whether interference better explained forgetting than passage of time.
  • rugby players to remember names of teams they played.
  • recall was better from 3 weeks ago if they played no matches since.
  • accurate recall depended on how many games played and not how long ago the matches took place.