explanations for forgetting - interfernece

Question 1

what is the interference theory

Answer 1

when two pieces of information disrupt each other

results in forgetting for one or both

mainly an explanation for forgetting in LTM

Question 2

what is proactive interference

Answer 2

occurs when an idle memory interferes with a new one

Question 3

what is retroactive interference

Answer 3

when a newer memory interferes with an older one

Question 4

give one strength in the explanations of forgetting - interference

Answer 4

real world interference

strength

evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations

Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall names of the teams they had played against during rugby season

players all played for the same interval

but the number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury

players who played the most games had the poorest recall due to most interference for memory

this study shows that interference can operate in at least some real world situations

increases validity of the theory

Question 5

give a strength of explanations for forgetting - interference

Answer 5

support from drug studies

strength

evidence of retrograde facilitation

Coehen snd Luijtelar gave participants a list of words and later asked them to recall the list assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference

found that when a lost of words was learnt under the influence of the drug recall one week later was poor

when a list was learned before the drug recall later was better

so the drug actually improved recall of material learned beforehand

Wixted suggest that the drug prevents new info reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories so it cannot interfere retroactively with the information already stored

shows that forgetting can be due to interference - reduce interference snd you reduce forgetting

Question 6

give a limitation of explanations for forgetting - interference

Answer 6

interference and cues

limitation

interference is temporary and can be overcome by using cues

Tulving et al gave participants lists of words organised into categories

recall averaged about 70 % for the first list

but became progressively worse as participants learned each additional list (proactive interference)

at the end of the procedure the participants were given a cued recall test and told the names of the categories

recall rose again to about 70%

shows that interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM a finding not predicated by the interference theory