A01

• Define forgetting

  • inability to recall or recognise something that has been previously learned
  • often explained in terms of trace decay-memory code in brain disappears
• Define interference

  • An explanation for forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another.
  • This is most likely to occur when the two memories have similarity.
• Define Proactive interference

  • This is when previously learnt information interferes with the new information you are trying to store
  • e.g when someone asks for new address after recently moving and you give them your old address
• Brenton Underwood (1957) looked at the impact of proactive interference.

  • He analysed the findings from a number of studies and concluded that when participants had to learn a series of word lists, they do less well on word lists encountered later on. They remember more of the lists encountered early on.
• Overall he found..

  • he found that is ppts learn 10 or more lists, after 24 hours they remembered about 20% of everything they had learned. If they had only learned one list initially, then recall was over 70%.
• Define Retroactive Interference

  • This is when newly learnt information gets mixed up with the old information
  • e.g after recently moving you are asked to recall old address and give new one
• Muller was the first to identify retroactive interference

  • They gave participants a list of nonsense syllables to learn for 6 minutes.
  • They were then asked to recall the words after a retention interval.
• Performance was less good

  • if the participants had to do another task between the initial learning and recall. They were shown 3 landscape paintings and asked to describe them.