Explanations for forgetting: Interference

Question 1

Retroactive interderence (RI)

Answer 1

Where learning someone new inteferes with pasting learning

Question 2

Proactive interference (PI)

Answer 2

When past learning interfers with the current attempts to learning something new.

Question 3

Muller and Pilzecker (1990)

Answer 3

Demonstrated retroactive interference by giving p’s lists of nonsense syllables to learn for 6 min and then after a retention interval, asking the p’s to recall the lists.

Performance was less good when p’s were given an intervening task between inital learning and recll. Therefore the intervening task produced RI because the later task interfered with the previously learned material

Question 4

Underwood (1957)

Answer 4

Analysed the findings from the number of studies and found that p’s were less able to learn a list of words later in a sequence, in comparison to those presented earlier on.

Question 5

Underwood (1957)

Findings

Answer 5

Underwood found that if p’s had to memorise 10 or more lists of words, then after 24 hours they only remmbered 20% whereas if they only learned one list, recall was over 70%. These result suggest that PI occurs when learning multiple word lists.

Question 6

AO3

Question 7

A strength of interference research is the appication to advertising

Answer 7

E: Danaher et al (2008) found that both recall and recognition of an advertiser’s message were impaired when p’s were exposed to two advertisements for competing brands in the same week.

E: This demonstrates the effect of interference when people are exposed to multiple competing adverts

E: THis shows that reseach can potentially save advertisers money and enhance the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Question 8

One criticism of research investigating interference is the artificial nature of the task

Answer 8

E: Most of the research investigating interference is laboratory-based and uses artificial lists of words and/or nonsense syllables

E: Therefore the findings may not relate to everyday uses of memory, which intend not to involve simple word list.

L: This suggets that the results of interference research lack ecological validty and may not apply to everyday examples of human memory