Explanations of forgetting

Question 1

What are the 2 explanations of forgetting?

Answer 1

1. Retroactive interference
2. Proactive interference

Question 2

What is proactive interference?

Answer 2

1. When previous information interferes with recent information
2. Example- calling a partner by a previous partners name

Question 3

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 3

1. When recent information interferes with previous information
2. Example- difficulty remembering students’ names from last year because you have a new class

Question 4

If the point is:

A strength of retroactive and proactive interference is that there’s lots of research support for the idea that interference causes certain types of forgetting.

What is the evidence and link?

Answer 4

Evidence- For example, Schmidt et al found that the number of streets forgotten in Molenberg could be correlated to the number of times the individual moved. This created a sense of retroactive interference, as streets current to them were confused with previous ones.

Link- This illustrates how proactive and retroactive interference can clearly lead to memory loss.

Question 5

If the point is:

A strength of retroactive and proactive interference is that it gains credibility from the fact it’s supported by our everyday experience.

What is the evidence and link?

Answer 5

Evidence- Learning to drive an automatic car after driving a manual car can impact the driving, as you still look for the clutch and gears when you don’t need to, but the previous memory of using the clutch/ gears interferes with the new memory. This suggests that proactive interference has taken place.

Link- This means that proactive and retroactive interference can be seen to have face validity, as it appears we mix up the cognitive connections of material in memory.

Question 6

If the point is:

A weakness of the interference theory is that it can be considered reductionist, as it fails to consider other valid explanations of forgetting.

What is the evidence and link?

Answer 6

Evidence- For example, forgetting due to absence of cues. There is extensive research to support that forgetting arises as the cues are not available for the recall that was present during encoding.

Link- This means interference offers an incomplete explanation of forgetting.

Question 7

If the point is:

A strength of retroactive and proactive interference is that they have good practical applications, as they can help us to explain and prevent the forgetting of revision notes.

What is the evidence and link?

Answer 7

Evidence- One way in which this knowledge can be applied to help with revision strategies is not revising similar subject topics together. This is because they will interfere with each other, like revising 2 languages (French and Spanish).

Link- This suggests that the explanations of forgetting can be used as a beneficial explanation for us, within applying it to real life situations.

Question 8

What are the evaluation points for the explanations of forgetting?

Answer 8

+ There’s lots of research to support for the idea that interference causes certain types of forgetting

+ Gains credibility from the fact it’s supported by our everyday experience

— Can be considered reductionist, as it fails to consider other valid explanations of forgetting

+ Good practical applications, as they can help us to explain and prevent the forgetting of revision notes