expanations for forgetting

• Muller was the first to identify retroactive interference effects. They gave pt a list of nonsense syllables to learn 6 mins and after a retention interval, recall the lists. less good if pt had been given an intervening task between initial learning and recall. Underwood showed that proactive interference could be equally significant. he analysed the findings from a number of studies and concluded that when pt were given a series of word lists, they don’t learn the most recent lists as well as the older learnt lists. 10 or more lists, 24 hours after only remembered 20%, one list was 70%.
• Baddeley and Hitch investigated interference effects in an everyday setting of rugby players recalling the names of teams they had played against. some players played all the games, others miss some due to instances like injury. they found that players who played more games recalled less teams than those who played less. There is also the concept of similarity of test materials. A study showed that interference is the strongest the more similar the items are. Only interference, rather than decay, can explain such effects.
• One issue with the evidence offered in support of pro and retro interference concerns the methodology of the studies. most of this research has often used artificial lists of words etc. Thus, the findings may not relate to everyday uses of memory. in addition, pt may lack motivation to remember the links in such studies, and this may allow interference effects to appear stronger than they really are. 

  this means that research is low in ecological validity, although the counter argument is that interference effects have been observed in everyday situations.

   
• Another criticism of research into interference effects do occur in everyday life, they don’t occur that often. 

  rather special conditions are required for interference to lead for forgetting (the memories need to be quite similar). Anderson concluded that there is no doubt that interference plays a role in forgetting but how much forgetting can be attributed to interference remains unclear. 

  This means that other theories are needed to provide a complete explanation of forgetting.

   
• A strength of this research is that it can be applied to real life situations.

  For example, it was found that both recall and recognition of an advertiser’s message were impaired when pt were exposed to two advertisements for competing brands within a week. They suggest that one strategy might be to enhance the memory trace by exposing multiple of the advertisements on one day, rather being spread out over a week. This reduces interference from other advertisers.

  This shows how research can maximise the effectiveness of companies’ campaigns.
• A strength of Baddeley and Hitch into the rugby players is the methodology.

  Baddeley and Hitch studied players in a natural setting to study interference and how this affected them. As it is done in a natural setting, there is an increase of mundane realism and ecological validity which helps the support.

  However, cause and effect can’t be established as there is no control of the IVs and so it could be an impact on something else which generates the results.