Explanations for forgetting: Interference Flashcards
Which type of memory does interference mainly affect?
Long-term memory
Types of interference
Proactive and retroactive
What is Proactive interference?
Older memories interferes with newer ones
What is Retroactive interference?
Newer memories interferes with older ones
What is the study for Interference?
McGeoch and McDonald
- participants had to learn a list of words until they could remember with 100% accuracy
- 6 groups of participants
- each group had a different list to learn
- synonyms, antonyms, three - digit numbers, no new list (control group), words unrelated to the original list
What were the findings for the M&M study?
When the participants were asked to recall the original list of words, the most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall. This shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar.
What is the evaluation for interference?
Real-world interference:
- Baddeley and Hitch
- asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they had played during the season
- They found players who had played the most games had the poorest recall
This study shows that interference can operate in at least some real-world situations, thus increasing the validity of the theory
Interference and cues:
- Tulving
- interference is temporary and can be overcome with cues
- participants had to learn more and more lists
- recall became worse over time due to having to remember more
- recall with one list was 70%
- at the end they were given a cued recall test (told names of categories)
- recall rose again to 70%
This shows that interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in the LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory
Validity issues:
- most of the studies are lab
- researchers can control variables
- artificial materials
- unrealistic procedures
