Explanations Of Forgetting: Interference Flashcards
What is forgetting due to interference?
When 2 pieces of information conflict with each other which causes forgetting of one or both or some distortion in memory
What has this theory been proposed for forgetting and why does this happen?
LTM
Even though information in the LTM store is more or less permanent we cannot gain access to them even though they’re unavailable
What is interference theory?
An accessibility theory of forgetting - the memories are there we just can’t get to them because there is an interference between the memories
What are the two types of interference?
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
When does proactive inference occur?
When an older memory interferes with a new one
E.g your teacher has difficulty remembering the names of students in his current class because he’s taught so many classes in the past
When does retroactive interference occur?
When a newer memory interferes with an older one
E.g your teacher has learned so many names this year he struggles to remember the names of his previous class
In both cases of retroactive and proactive interference when is interference worse?
When memories or learning are similar
What did McGeoch and McDonald study?
Retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials.
Ppts had to learn a list of words till they were 100% accurate and then learnt a new list
There were 6 groups of ppts who had to learn different types of lists
What were the 6 groups for McGeoch and McDonalds’ study?
Group 1 - synonyms
Group 2 - antonyms
Group 3 - words unrelated to the original ones
Group 4 - constant syllables
Group 5 - three digit numbers
Group 6 - no new list - these ppts rested (control group)
What were the conclusions of the study McGeoch and McDonald conducted?
When ppts had to recall the original list, the synonyms (group 1) produced the worst recall.
This shows interference is strongest when memories are similar
What are the two reasons similarity affects recall?
- It could be due to proactive interference - previously stored info makes new similar info more difficult to store
- Retroactive interference - new info overrides previous similar memories because of similarity
Evaluation point: real-world interference
- One strength is that there is evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations
- Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they’d played against
- All layers had played for the same time interval but number of intervening games differed because of injuries
- Players who played the most games had the poorest recall
- This study shows interference can operate in at least some real-world situations increasing the theories validity
Evaluation point: interference and cues
- One limitation is that interference is temporary and an be overcome using cues
- Tulving and Psotka gave ppts lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time
- Recall averaged about 70% for the first list but got progressively worse as ppts learned each additional list
- At the end ppts were given a cued recall test and told the categories names
- Recall then rose again to 70%
-This shows interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM which is not predicted by interference theory
Evaluation point: support from drug studies
- Another strength comes from evidence of retrograde facilitation
- Conen and Luijtelaar gave ppts lists of words and later asked them to recall the list assuming intervening experiences would act as interference
- It was found that when a list of words was learned under the influence of the drug diazepam recall was poor compared to the placebo control group
- When a list of words was learnt before the drug was taken recall was better than the placebo
- the drug improved recall
- Wixted suggests the drug prevents new info reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories so cannot interfere retroactively with info already stored
- Findings show forgetting can be due to interference - reduce interference and you reduce forgetting
Evaluation point: validity issues
- Most studies supporting interference theory are lab based so researches can control variables
- Control over confounding variables also means studies show a clear link between interference and forgetting
- These studies use artificial materials and unrealistic procedures
- In everyday life we often learn something and recall it much later
