Explanations Of Forgetting - Interference

Question 1

What is interference?

Answer 1

This is when 1 memory disturbs the ability to recall another. This might result in forgetting or distorting one or the other or both. This is more likely to happen if the memories are similar.

Question 2

What is proactive interference?

Answer 2

Previously learnt information interferes with the new information you are trying to store.

EG: You cannot remember your new classmates names because instead you remember the names of the students in your maths group last year.

Question 3

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 3

A new memory interferes with older ones.

For example: you cannot remember your old classmates because you have learnt the name of your class this year.

Question 4

Muller - retroactive interference.

Answer 4

• They gave participants a list of nonsense syllables to learn for 6 minutes, then after a retention interval, they were asked to recall the syllables.
• Performance was worse if participants had been given an intervening task between initial learning and recall.

Question 5

Underwood (1957) - proactive interference

Answer 5

Concluded that when participants have to learn a series of word lists they do not learn the lists of words encountered later on in the sequence as well as lists of words encountered earlier on.

Findings:
- If participants memorised 10 or more lists, then, after 24 hours they remembered about 20% of what they learned.
- If they only learned one list recall was over 70%.

Question 6

McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Similarity of information

Answer 6

Gave participants a list of 10 adjectives (list A). Once these were learned there was then a resting interval of 10 minutes where they learnt list B followed by recall.

Findings:
If List B was a list of synonyms of List A, recall was poor at 12%. If List B was nonsense this had less effect (26% recall). If List B was numbers this had the least amount of effect at 37%.

Question 7

Limitations of Forgetting - Interference

Answer 7

P = Research uses artificial stimuli
E - Miller and Pilzecker nonsense syllables

P - better explanations for forgetting
E - Anderson argued that there are often other ways to explain forgetting, such as retrieval failure, in particular when information is not similar to each other
E - incomplete understanding.

P - individual differences in forgetting
E = Kane and Engle - different working memory spans affects interference levels.
E - interference is not a standalone concept, but also depends on our working memory (STM)
L - too simplistic

Question 8

Strengths - forgetting: interference

Answer 8

P - real life research
E = Danaher et al (2008) - advertising, shows that interference is a valid explanation in a real life situation
E - increases the validity of interference, supports inference explanation

Question 9

Dahaner - advertising - SUPPORT

Answer 9

Found that both recall and recognition of an advertiser’s message were impaired when participants were exposed to two advertisements for competing brands within a week.

Question 10

Kane & Engle - Individual differences in forgetting

Answer 10

Demonstrated that individuals with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to proactive interference.

• Participants were given three word lists to learn.
  Those with low working memory spans showed greater proactive interference when recalling the second and third lists.