interference

• Interference - forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or possibly both memories to be distorted or forgotten
• Proactive interference - older memories disrupt recall of newer memories

  Retroactive interference - newer memories disrupt recall of older memories
• The degree of forgetting is greater when memories are similar -Mcgeoch and McDonald (1931)

  • Participants learnt a list of 10 words by heart then they learnt a second list of 10 words
  • There were 6 conditions, including synonyms, antonyms and 3 digit numbers
  • Participants then recalled the original list of words
  • The most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall.
• Thousands of lab experiments have been carried out into interference as an explanation for forgetting. Most show that both proactive and retroactive interference are very likely to be common ways we forget information from LTM
• Baddeley and Hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall teams they’d played against that season. The result showed that accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place but much more the number of games they played in the meantime. This means that a player’s recall of a team from three weeks ago was better if they had played no matches since then
• There is a greater chance interference will be demonstrated in the lab than in real life situations due to artificial materials