Chapter 2.5 - Explanations for forgetting: Interference Flashcards
What is interference?
Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten
What is proactive interference?
Forgetting occurs when older memories, already sorted, disrupt the recall of newer memories. The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar
What is retroactive interference?
Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already sorted. The degree of forgetting is again greater when memories are similar
Describe the procedure of the research on effects of similarity
- McDonald and McGeoch(1931) changed the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
- Participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they remembered then with 100% accuracy
- Then learnt a new list
What were the 6 groups in the research?
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Unrelated words
- Consonant syllables
- Three-digit numbers
- No new list(control)
What were the findings and conclusions made on the research on effects of similarity?
- When participants were asked to recall the original list of words, the most similar materials produced the worst recall
- Shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar
What was the explanation
on the research on effects of similarity?
Similarity affects recall could be due to proactive interference or retroactive interference
What is a strength for interference? (real-world interference)
- Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a season
- The number of intervening games varied since some players were injured and missed matches
- Players who played the most games(most interference) had the poorest recall
- Shows that interference can operate in at least some real-world situations, increasing the validity of the theory
What is a counterpoint for the strength of interference? (real-world interference)
- The conditions necessary for interference to occur are relatively rare
- Unlike in lab studies, the high degree of control means a researcher can create ideal conditions for interference
- This may happen occasionally in everyday life but not often
- Suggests that most forgetting may be better explained by other theories such as retrieval failure due to lack of cues
What is a limitation of interference?
- Tulving and Psotka (1971) gave participants a list of words organised into categories, one at a time
- The recall averaged about 70% but became progressively worse with each additional list(PI)
- A cued recall test was given where participants were told the names of categories
- Recall rose again to about 70%
- Interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory
What is a strength of interference? (support from drug studies)
- Evidence of retrograde facilitation
- 1997, participants were given a list of words and later asked to recall it
- When a list of words was learned under the influence of diazepam, recall one week later was poor compared with a placebo control group
- When a list was learned before the drug was taken, later recall was better than the placebo
- The drug facilitated recall of material beforehand (drugs prevent new information reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories so cannot interfere retroactively with information already stored)
- Shows that forgetting can be due to interference
What is another evaluation point for interference? (validity issues)
- Most studies supporting the theory are lab-based so researchers can control variables
- Control over confounding variables means that studies show a clear link between interference and forgetting
- These studies use artificial materials and unrealistic procedures
