proactive & retroactive interference theory of forgetting

• Forgetting


  Failure to retrieve memories
• Interference


  Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten
• Types of interference


  • Proactive
  • Retroactive
• Interference is an explanation of forgetting
• Interference is when similar material is confused causing problems with recall from the LTM
• Proactive interference


  • Forgetting occurs when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories
  • The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar
  • old information disrupts the new information
• Retroactive interference


  • Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored
  • The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar
  • new information disrupts the old information
• Interference theory of forgetting - Burke and Skull (1988)


  1. Presented a series of magazine adverts to participants

  2. Participants had to recall details of what they had seen

  3. In some cases, participants had difficulty recalling earlier adverts and others had trouble with later ones

  4. The effect was greatest when the adverts were similar (adverts were identical but different brands)
• Interference theory of forgetting - McGeoch & McDonald (1931)

  1. Participants were asked to remember a list of words until they could recall it perfectly and then participants would learn the second list

  2. There were 6 groups and each learnt a different set of words for the second list

  3. Group 1 who learnt the list with the most similar material had the worst recall

  4. Group 5 who learnt the most irrelevant material had the best recall

  5. The more similar information is the more likely it is to be retroactively interfering with older memories
• Strengths of proactive and retroactive interference

  • Baddeley & Hitch provided support for interference and evidence against the claim that forgetting could be due to decay
  • They asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they had played so far that season, week by week
  • The results showed that accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place but the number of games they had played in the meantime
  • Players who played most games forgot more because of interference
• Weaknesses of proactive and retroactive interference

  • A better explanation may be retrieval failure due to absence of cues
  • Interference only explains some situations of forgetting
  • Special conditions are required for interference to lead to forgetting – the 2 memories need to be quite similar therefore it is not an explanation for forgetting memories that are not similar
  • Research support for these explanations uses materials which are meaningless
  • The materials they use don't reflect much of the kinds of information we use our memory for in the real-world
  • Remembering trigrams does not reflect real-life memory activities where what we are trying to remember is often more meaningful and varied
  • This is a weakness as they findings may not be representative of real-life forgetting