forgetting

• Interference


  The ways in which information is lost from long-term memory
• Interference


  It is when one memory prevents the retrieval of another memory; it gets in the way
• Types of interference


  • Retroactive
  • Proactive
• Interference can occur when learning or memories are similar
• Retroactive interference


  This is when a new memory interferes with an old memory
• Retroactive interference


  • You forget your old phone number as the new number has replaced it
  • You forget how to drive a manual car as you have been driving an automatic for so long
• Proactive interference


  This when an old memory interferes with a new memory
• Proactive interference


  • You struggle to learn Spanish as you get muddled with previously learnt French vocabulary
  • You struggle to learn your new phone number as you keep recalling your old number
• Postman (1960) found that learning items in a second list interfered with participants' ability to recall the first list i.e. retroactive interference
• Baddeley and Hitch (1977) found that rugby players who had played every game were more likely to forget matches: the later games had interfered with a recall of the earlier matches i.e. retroactive interference
• McGeoch and McDonald (1931) found that participants who were given synonyms had the worst recall as it was likely the memory for the original list had not been interfered with i.e. interference is more likely to occur when memories are similar
• Cue-dependent retrieval failure


  Happens when you cannot access a memory in LTM as there are no cues to help you
• Cue


  Any stimulus which can prompt a memory
• Cues


  • The 'Fun Song Factory' theme tune
  • The smell of cleaning fluid
  • A bright red leather jacket
• Encoding specificity principle (ESP)


  Cues must be present when the memory is encoded so that the same cues at retrieval will trigger the memory
• Cue-dependent forgetting


  • I am trying to remember who my sixth-form boyfriend was but I just can't recall his name
  • What on earth was that TV programme I loved when I was a pre-schooler?
• Baddeley and Godden (1975) found that words learned underwater were better recalled underwater and words learned on land were better recalled on land
• Carter & Cassaday (1998) found that memory was better when learning and recall state matched (e.g. learning/recalling + anti-histamine); forgetting occurred more when the states did not match (e.g. learning + anti-histamine/recalling without)