explanations for forgetting: interference Flashcards
what does interference mean?
-two pieces of info disrupt each other
-so u forget one or both
-causes distortion to memory
-makes it harder to locate a memory
what are the types of interference?
proactive and retroactive
what does proactive interference mean?
-older memory interferes w newer memory
(pro means moving forward)
-old to new
-e.g teacher has learnt so many names in the past, she finds it difficult to remember the names of her current class
what does retroactive interference mean?
-newer memory interferes w older memory
-retro means to work backwards
-e.g teacher learnt so many new names this year she has difficulty remembering names of students last year
what was the procedures McGeoch and mcDonald did to research effects on similarity?
-changed amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials
-Ps learnt 10 words until they could remember w 100% accuracy
-then learnt new list
-6 gorups of Ps who had to learn diff types of new lists
what were the different groups?
-grp 1- synoyms - words w same meanings as orginal
-grp 2= antonyms words w diff meanings to orginal
-grp 3 = words unrelated to original
-grp 4= consonant syllables
-grp 5= three digit numbers
-grp 6 = no new list Ps jus rested (control conditon)
what were the findings from McGeoch and McDonald study?
-similar material had worse recall
-interference worse w similar material
what is the explanations for effects of similarity?
-Proactive 1: previosuly stored info makes new similar info more difficult to store
- retroactive 1 - new info overwrites previous similar memroies due to similarity
what are the strengths?
(real world interference)
-baddeley and hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played againist during a rugby season
-number intervening games varied as some players missed games due to the injury
-players who played most games (most interference of memory) had poorest recall
-interfernce in real world app- increases validity
(support for drug studies)
-Coenan and Gillies gave Ps word list and then later asked them recall
-assuming intervening experinces would act as interference
-when word lists learnt under infulence of diazepam recall one week later was poor comapred w placebo grp
-but when list was learnt before drug taken, later recall was better
-so drug improved recall of material learnt beforehand
-Wixted suggests drugs prevent new info reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories
-so cannot interfere retroactively w info alrdy stored
-so reducing interference, reduces forgetting
what are weaknesses?
(counterpoint to real world interference)
-unsual for interefence to be major issue everysay for forgetting
-conditons needed for interference are rare
-only lab studies can create these ideal condions bc its controlled
-two memories need to be similar to interfere w eachother
-may happen occasioanlly e.g u revised similar subjects but not often
-so forgetting may be explanaied by things like retrival failure due to lack of cues
(interference and cues)
-interference is temporary and can be overcome by cues
-tulving and psotka gave Ps list of words organised into categories
-one list at a time(Ps not told what categories were)
-recall averaged around 70% for first list
-but became worse when Ps had to learn each additonal list(interference)
-but did the words disappear from LTm or where they still available
-at the end of the procedure the particpant were given a cued recall test- told names of categories
-recall rose again to around 70%
-so interference causes temporary loss of accessibility to material thats still in LTM , a finding not predicted by interference theory
what are the valdity issues with the studies?
-researchers control varibales so studies show a strong link between interference and foregtting
-but use artifical methodsand unrealistic
-IRL we jus learn something new and recall later as revision
