Forgetting- interference

• Interference

  forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten. so makes it harder for us to locate memories in our LTM.
• Proactive interference

  an older memory interferes with a newer one.
• retroactive interference

  a newer memory interferes with an older one.
• Research:

  McGeoch and McDonald- interference worse when memories that are similar. They studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of material.

  participants learn lists of 10 words they could remember with 100% accuracy then learnt a new list. Conclusions= most similar material produced worst recall- shows that interference is strongest when memories are similar.
• Evaluation- real world interference

  Baddeley and Hich asked rugby players to recall teams they had played against. All played for the same interval (1 season) but the number of intervening games varied. Players who played most games has the poorest recall. This increases the validity of the theory.
• Evaluation- counterpoint

  Interference causing forgetting in everyday situations is unusual- because conditions needed for interference is rare.

  Very unlike lab studies, where the high degree of control means researcher can create ideal conditions for interference- eg: 2 memories have to be fairly similar in order to interfere.

  May happen in real life but not often.

  Suggests most forgetting may be better explained by other theories like retrieval failure due to a lack of cues.
• Evaluation- Interference and cues.

  Limitation= interference is temporary and can be overcome by using cues.

  Tulving and Psotka= gave participants lists of words in categories one list at a time.

  Average recall= 70% for list 1, but became progressively worse as participants learned additional lists. At the end, participants given a cued recall test- told names of the categories and recall rose again to 70%.

  suggests interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that's still in LTM.
• Interference

  Experiences that act to disrupt the recall of previously learned information
• Goenen and Van Lujelar study

  1. Participants given a list of words

  2. Later had to recall the words

  3. Assuming the interviewing experiences would act as interference
• When lists of words was learned under influence of drug diazepam

  Recall was poor 1 week later (compared to placebo)
• When lists learned before drug was taken


  Recall was better than the placebo
• The drug improved recall of material learned beforehand
• The drug prevents new information reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories so can't interfere with information already stored
• Forgetting can be due to interference