Explanations for forgetting: Interference Flashcards
What is interference in memory?
When two pieces of information disrupt each other, leading to forgetting or memory distortion.
In which type of memory does interference mainly occur?
Long-Term Memory (LTM) – forgetting happens because information is difficult to access, not because it has disappeared.
What are the two types of interference?
- Proactive interference (PI)
- Retroactive interference (RI)
What is proactive interference (PI)?
When older memories disrupt newer memories (e.g., struggling to remember new students’ names because of old students’ names).
What is retroactive interference (RI)?
When newer memories disrupt older memories (e.g., struggling to recall last year’s students’ names after learning this year’s names).
What did McGeoch & McDonald (1931) study?
how similarity between new and old information affects recall.
What were the six groups in McGeoch & McDonald’s (1931) study?
Participants learned a list of 10 words, then a second list of:
1. Synonyms (same meaning words).
2. Antonyms (opposite meaning words).
3. Unrelated words.
4. Consonant syllables.
5. Three-digit numbers.
6. No new list (control group, rest only).
What were the findings of McGeoch & McDonald (1931)?
The more similar the second list was to the original, the worse the recall of the original list.
What does McGeoch & McDonald’s (1931) study suggest about similarity?
Interference is strongest when memories are similar.
Why does similarity increase interference?
- Proactive interference (PI) – old similar memories make it harder to store new ones.
- Retroactive interference (RI) – new similar memories overwrite older ones.
strength (1) of Interference
One strength is that there is evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations.
Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a rugby season. The players all played for the same time interval (over one season) but the number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury. Players who played the most games (most interference for memory) had the poorest recall.
This study shows that interference can operate in at least some real-world situations, increasing the validity of the theory.
limitation of Interference
One limitation is that interference is temporary and can be overcome by using cues (hints or clues to help us remember something).
Endel Tulving and Joseph Psotka (1971) gave participants lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time (participants were not told what the categories were). Recall averaged about 70% for the first list, but became progressively worse as participants learned each additional list (proactive interference). But had the words really disappeared from LTM or were they still available? At the end of the procedure the participants were given a cued recall test - they were told the names of the categories. Recall rose again to about 70%.
This shows that interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory.
strength (2) of Interference
Another strength comes from evidence of retrograde facilitation.
Anton Coenen and Gilles van Luijtelaar (1997) gave participants a list of words and later asked them to recall the list, assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference. They found that when a list of words was learned under the influence of the drug diazepam, recall one week later was poor (compared with a placebo control group). But when a list was learned before the drug was taken, later recall was better than placebo. So the drug actually improved (facilitated) recall of material learned beforehand. John Wixted (2004) suggests that the drug prevents new information (i.e. experienced after taking the drug) reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories, so it cannot interfere retroactively with information already stored.
This finding shows that forgetting can be due to interference - reduce the interference and you reduce the forgetting.
