Explanations for forgetting: interference theory Flashcards
What is interference?
When two pieces of information disrupt each other resulting in the forgetting of one or both.
When is interference most likely to occur?
When the two memories are similar.
What are the two types of interference?
proactive and retroactive
What is proactive interference?
When an older memory interferes with a new one. For example, your teacher has learnt so many names in the past that she has difficulty remembering the names of her new class.
What is retroactive interference?
When you forget a previously learnt task due to the learning of a new task. For example, your teacher has learned so many new names they struggle to remember the names of students last year.
Who conducted research into interference as an explanation of forgetting?
McGoech and McDonald.
What did McGoech and McDonald find/do.
They studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials. Participants had to learn a list of ten words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list. Group 1- synonyms
Group 2- antonyms
Group 3- words unrelated to the origins, ones.
Group 4- consonant syllables.
Group 5- three-digit numbers.
Group 6- no new list.
When the participants were asked to recall the original list of words, those who had learnt the synonyms produced the worst recall. This shows that when memories are similar, interference is the strongest.
Give a strength of interference as an explanation for forgetting.
There is evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations. Baddely and hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of teams that they had played against in the rugby season. Thr players all played for the same team but the number of intervening games varied as different players had been absent for different matches e,g injury. Those players who played the most games had the most trouble recalling the names of the teams. This study shows that infereference can operate in some real world situations which increases its validity.
Counter argument of real world application to interference theory.
It is unusual that interference occurs in every day situations as two memories have to be extremely similar in order for them to interfere with each other. This may happen, though not very often. Therefore most forgetting must be explained by other theories such as retrieval failure due to a lack of cues.
Give a limitation of interference as an explanation for forgetting. (Validity issues)
Most studies supporting interference theory are lab based so researchers can control variables. Control over confounding variables means we can see a clesr link between interference and forgetting however these studies use artificial materials and unrealistic procedures. In every day life we often learn something and recall it much layer.
