Explanation of forgetting Flashcards
theory one is
interference theory
two types of interference theories
reotractive and proactive
tell me about Retroactive interference
retro=backwards
forgeting previous info, becasue you’ve learned new info.
later learnings interfere with earlier learning - where new memories disrupt old memories
tell me about the research on Retroactive interference
by Postman 1960
two groups
lab
remember list of paired words (cat-tree)
experimental group: learned another list, where the second paired word is different
all ppts were asked to recall, control group = more accurate
tell me about Proactive interference
pro=forward
when what we already know interferes with what we are currently learning -** old memries disrupt new memories **
tell me about research
By Underwood 1957
analysed findings form number of studies
found: wen ppts have to learn a series of word-lisits, they dont learn words they encounter later on in the sequence as well as word-lisits they encounter earlier on.
if ppts memorise 10 or more lisits, after 24 hours they remember 20%
while if tthey memorise 1 lists = 70%
what the similarity of test models is about
proactive and retroactive interference tend to happen with memories that are similar
e.g. confusing old and new telephone number
what research was done about imilarity of test models
by McGeoch and McDonald:
list of 10 adjectives.
after this list ppts were given another list
10 min break
list B = synonymd of list A
= recall 12%
if lsit B was nonsens syllabals = 26%
if lsit B was numbers =37%
interference»_space;> when words are simmilar
this effect can be explained by interference rather than decay
eval top 1
an issue with this research is that all research is artificial
eval 1 point
majority of research is being sone in labs
using lists of words
these exmples occur infrequently in every day life
leading to low ecol val
which makes it harder to generalise
Baddeley: tasks are too close to each other, in real life they are spaced out
eval 1 tail
therefore this research + theories is not that reliable,
however there are counterarguments that interference has been observed in real life
eval 1 double
Baddeley +Hitch
rugby players
asked to recall names of players who they played with this season
the time interval between games was the same for all who were questioned
however some played all games, other - some
thos who played more- forgot proportionally more
similar memories interfer and disrupt other similar memories
eval 2 top
it is an explanation of forgetting
however it is limited
eval 2 point
as the condition for interference is similar info, it really limmts the whole explanation down to cases when info we remeber in certain period of time is similar.
therefore this theory cant serve as a whole explanation of forgetting
Anderson, said that interference has a role in forgetting, but big this role is we dont know
eval 2 tail
this suggests that we need other theories to complete the explanation of forgetting, as interference may not be the main reason
eval 3 top
researchers debate the consequences of interference
whether the info dissapeare or its effect is temporary, and info is staying in the mind
eval 3 point
Ceraso: if you test memory after 24 h recognition, (accesability) showed considerable spontaneous recovery, whereas recall (availability) remained the same.
suggesting interferenec happens because memories are temporarily not accessible rather than haveing actually decayed.
eval 3 tail
this supports the fact that interference happens not only with similar info, but it also doesnt get rid of info consequently, it rather changes the accessability rather than availabilty.
