Forgetting: Interference

• Interference


  Explanation for forgetting where a piece of information conflicts with another piece of information, causing one memory to block another and the information to be forgotten or distorted
• Types of interference


  • Proactive interference
  • Retroactive interference
• Proactive interference


  Old memories interfere with new
• Retroactive interference


  New memories interfere with old
• LTM is thought to be a fairly permanent memory store, so any forgetting that occurs is because we cannot access the memories, even though they are available</b>
• Interference stops us from locating memories in our LTM, causing us to experience 'forgetting'
• The memories that are interfering with each other are likely to have been formed at different times
• This type of forgetting states that we have forgotten due to accessibility - the memories are there, but we can't access them