Interference

• Interference:

  This theory suggests that we forget because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted/ forgotten.
• What is interference?

  Forgetting occurs because memories interfere with and disrupt one another. In other words, forgetting occurs because of interference from other memories(Baddeley 1999.)

  Most likely when information is similar.

  Forgetting means we cannot access memories even though they are available.
• Interference has been proposed mainly as an explanation for forgetting in long-term memory.
• Once information has reached the LTM, it becomes more or less permanent.
• Therefore, any forgetting is not because the information is lost, it is because we are struggling to access it.
• Interference make it difficult to access memories due to them being blocked/ not available.
• There are two types of interference which we need to know about: Proactive interference and Retroactive interference.
• Proactive Interference(PI), occurs when what we already know interferes with what we are actually/currently learning.

  This is where old memories disrupt new information.
• Example:

  Teacher has learned many names in the past, that they start to call their new class by the old classes names.
• Retroactive Interference(RI) occurs when your forget a previously learnt task due to learning of a new task.
• In other words, later learning interferes with earlier learning.

  Therefore this is where new memories disrupt old memories.
• Example:

  Teacher has learnt so many new names that they struggle to remember the names of their pupils from last year.
• Acronym to remember this:

  Proactive

  old

  Retroactive

  new