Explainaitions for forgetting: Interference Theory

Question 1

What is interference?

Answer 1

An explanation for forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another.

Question 2

When is interference most likely to occur?

Answer 2

When the two memories have some similarity.

Question 3

What are the two types of interference?

Answer 3

Proactive & Retroactive interference

Question 4

Define proactive interference.

Answer 4

Past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something.

Question 5

Define retroactive interference.

Answer 5

Current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning.

Question 6

Why does interference occur?

Answer 6

Competition between the correct & incorrect responses.
It is the strength of the incorrect response that appears to result in interference.
Hard to exclude incorrect responses from the retrieval process.

Question 7

What is some supporting evaluation for the interference theory?

Answer 7

Supporting evidence is often lab based & artificial (e.g. lists of syllables, word pairs).

Question 8

What is a limitation of the interference theory?

Answer 8

Only explains some situations of forgetting:

• Special conditions are required for interference to lead to forgetting - 2 memories need to be quite similar.
• Anderson (2002) concluded that interference does play a role in forgetting but how much forgetting can be caused by interference remains unclear.

Question 9

What is another limitation for interference theory?

Answer 9

Accessibility VS Availability:

• researchers have questioned whether interference causes a memory to completely disappear or whether the effects are temporary.
• Ceraso (1967) found that if memory was tested again after 24hrs, recognition/ accessibility showed considerable recovery, whereas recall/ availability remained the same.
• Suggests that interference occurs because memories are temporarily not accessible rather than having been lost.