interference

• interference theory: when two peices of information disrupt eachother, resulting in forgetting or distortion of information. mainly a theory in long term memory
• 2 types of interference: proactive interference and retroactive interference

  • proactive interference: when an older memory disrupts a newer memory (eg. a teacher has had so many students in the past they find it hard to remember the names of their new students)
  • retroactive interference: when a newer memory disrupts an older memory (eg. a teacher has learned all the names of a student in her class this year that they can't remember the previous students names)
• Both proactive interference (PI) and retroactive interference (RI) are worse when the information that is being learned/disrupted is similar. this was researched by mcgeogh and mcdonald in 1931
• Who studied retroactive interference (RI) in memory recall?

  McGeogh and McDonald
• What was the main objective of McGeogh and McDonald's study on RI?

  To investigate how the amount of similarities between two sets of materials affects memory recall
• What did participants have to learn in the study until they could recall them with 100% accuracy?

  A list of words
• What did participants do after learning the first list of words?

  They learned a new list of words
• What were the six groups of words used in the study?

  • Synonyms (words with the same meaning as original)
  • Antonyms (words with opposite meaning as original)
  • Words unrelated to the original word
  • Consonant syllables
  • Three-digit numbers
  • Control group (no second list, just rested)
• Which group of words was recalled the worst according to the study?

  Synonyms
• What does the study suggest about interference in memory recall?

  Interference is worst when the information being recalled is similar
• strength of interfernce theory: real world application

  • there is evidence of interference in our everday lives
  • baddely and hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they played against in a season
  • all players played the season but the matches were varied due to injuries
  • they found that players who had played the most games (had the most interference) had the poorest recall
  • study shows that there is interference in real life and increases the validity of the theory
• limitation of interference theory:

  • interfence can be temporary and overcome using hints
  • tulving and psotka gave pp lists of workds organised into catagories, one list at a time (not told what the catagories were)
  • recall was around 70% but progressivly got worse the more lists they had to learn (proactive interference)
  • at the end of the test, pp were given a cued recall test where they were told the names of the catagories, recall increased to 70% again
  • shows that interference causes temporary loss of memory that can be recalled with hints
• retrieval failure theory: the idea that we forget things because we don't retrieve them from our memory with cues
• tulving (1983) discovered a pattern he called 'encoding specificity principle' this means to retrive information, there must be cue present at encoding adn the same cue present at retrieval

  • example of this is: mneumonic techniques
  • context dependant forgetting (recall depends on external cue- weather or a place)
  • state dependant forgetting (recall depends on internal cue- feeling upset, being drunk)
• Who conducted research on context-dependent forgetting involving deep sea divers?

  Godden and Baddeley
• What was the purpose of Godden and Baddeley's study on deep sea divers?

  To see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater
• What were the four conditions in the study by Godden and Baddeley?


  1. Learn on land - recall on land
  2. Learn on land - recall underwater
  3. Learn underwater - recall on land
  4. Learn underwater - recall underwater
• In how many conditions did the environmental contexts of learning match in the study?

  In two conditions
• What was the result of the study regarding accurate recall in non-matching conditions?

  Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions
• What did Godden and Baddeley conclude about the cues available at learning and recall?

  The cues available at learning were not available at recall, causing retrieval failure
• Who conducted research on state-dependent retrieval in 1998?

  Carter and Cassaday
• What effect did the antihistamines have on participants in the study?

  They had a mild sedative effect, making participants slightly drowsy.
• What task did participants have to perform in the study?

  They had to learn and remember a list of words and passages.
• What were the four conditions created in the study with antihistamines?

  1. Learn on drug - recall not on drug
  2. Learn on drug - recall on drug
  3. Learn not on drug - recall not on drug
  4. Learn not on drug - recall on drug
• What was the main finding regarding the conditions of learning and recall?

  Recall was significantly worse when there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall.
• What happens to recall when cues are absent according to the study's findings?


  There is more forgetting when cues are absent.
• If a participant is drowsy when recalling information but alert when learning it, what is likely to happen to their recall ability?

  Their recall ability is likely to be worse due to the mismatch in internal state.
• What is a strength of the retrieval failure theory?

  Real world application
• How can retrieval cues help in everyday situations?


  They can help to overcome some forgetting
• What happens when you walk into a room and forget what you need?

  You may remember what you need when you return to the original place due to cues in the room
• Why is it worth thinking of the environment in which you learned information when attempting to recall it?

  It shows how research can remind us of strategies that can help recall
• What strategies can be used in the real world to help recall information?

  • Use retrieval cues from the environment
  • Recall the context in which the information was learned
  • Create associations with specific locations or objects
• What is a limitation of the retrieval failure theory?

  It does not account for the difference between recall and recognition.
• How do context effects depend on the type of memory being tested?

  Context effects may vary significantly based on whether recall or recognition is used.
• What did Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicate in their study?


  They replicated their underwater study using a recognition test instead of a recall test.
• What was the task participants had to perform in the recognition test of Godden and Baddeley's study?


  Participants had to indicate if they recognized a word from a list.
• What was the outcome when recognition was tested in Godden and Baddeley's study?


  There was no context-dependent effect, and results were consistent across all four conditions.
• What does the study by Godden and Baddeley suggest about retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting?

  It suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting, applicable only to recall, not recognition.