inteference - forgetting

• What is interference as an explanation for forgetting?

  -Interference serves as a cause of forgetting in long-term memory (LTM).

  -Information in LTM is essentially permanent; forgetting stems from difficulty accessing rather than loss of information

  - occurs when the retrieval of a memory is disrupted by the presence of other competing or similar information

  - interference suggests that memories may interfere with each other, making it challenging to recall specific information
• What is PROACTIVE interference?

  occurs when OLD existing memories affects attempts to recall something NEW i.e. the memory of an old telephone number disrupts attempts to recall a new phone number.
• What is RETROACTIVE interference?

  occurs when newly learned information (NEW memories) affects the recall of existing memories (OLD MEMORIES) i.e. the memory of your new car registration number prevents recall of a previous one.
• What are the effects of similarity with both types of interference?

  • In both cases (proactive and retroactive) interference is more likely to occur when the conflicting information is more similar to one another.

  • For example, interference is likely to be greater when revising French and then Spanish than there would be when revising Maths and then English.
• real-world interference

  P: strength - evidence for real-world interference

  E: rugby players were asked to recall the names of the teams they played against

  E: those who played the most games had the worst recall

  L: therefore validity of interference increased
• counterpoint

  P: limitation - interference unusual

  E: two memories have to be fairly similar for interference to occur

  E: This only happens occasionally in everyday life

  L: therefore forgetting better explained by other theories
• interference and cues

  P: limitation - interference temporary and overcome by cues

  E: ppts were given a list of words and recall was 70% then progressively worsened as ppts learned each additional list

  E: when ppts were given a cue call, recall rose again to 70%

  L: therefore interference causes temporary memory loss but is resolved by cues
• support from drug studies

  P: strength - support from drug studies

  E: word list learned under the influence of a drug was worse a week later compared to a placebo

  E: so drug improved recall of material learned before it was taken

  L: therefore interference can cause forgetting