Forgetting Flashcards
Define forgetting
When learned information can’t be retrieved
What are the two types of interference?
Proactive and Retroactive
What is proactive interference?
When a new memory is disrupted by an old one
What is retroactive interference?
When a new memory disrupts an old one
Which two psychologists studied retroactive interference?
Underwood and Postman
Describe the study on retroactive interference
- one group given 2 lists of word pairs, the second list with the first word of the pair the same eg (cat-dirt then cat-dog)
- other group only did first list
- recall better in the control group
Who studied proactive interference?
Underwood
What did underwood find in the study on proactive interference?
If people has previously learnt 15 or more word lists during the same experiment, a day later their recall was 20%. If only 1 list, recall was 80%
Give two strengths of interference theory
Supported by many studies with high control in lab
Evidence is also from real life settings
Two weaknesses of interference theory
Effects seem greater in lab than real life settings
Explains why we forget but not how
What is the name of the better theory for forgetting?
Cue-dépendant forgetting
Which psychologists found that evidence of retroactive interference disappeared in a cued recall test?
Tulving and Psotka
What percentage of the lists were recalled in the cued recall test, regardless of how many lists they did?
70%
Most forgetting is thought to be caused by r_____ f______
Retrieval failure
