Interference As An Explanation For Forgetting AO3

• Interference theory has been criticised as evidence such as McGeach and McDonald is from artificial lab studies using artificial tasks
• This may not occur to the same extent in real-life settings, thus challenging interference as an explanation for forgetting
• However, there are some real-life studies which back up interference theory
• Real-life studies


  • Baddeley + Hitch found rugby players were less accurate in recalling names of teams they'd played if they had played each week
  • Schmidt had participants and found they were less accurate in remembering street names around their old school if they'd moved house
• The real-life studies suggest there is a valid application for retroactive interference
• It's possible that interference is not a true explanation of forgetting, as loss of information may only be temporary
• Evidence against interference as a true explanation

  • Tulving and Psotka found if participants were given cues (in this case the category of words of a list) then they became more accurate in recall, suggesting material isn't actually overwritten
• Nevertheless, there are practical applications for knowledge of interference theory e.g. when revising, don't revise similar topics within a short space of time, as they might become confused