Forgetting: Interference Flashcards
Define Interference
forgetting something because one memory blocks out another one, causing one or both to be distorted or forgotten
whats the most likely reason we forget something from our LTM?
Because our brain cant access the memory
what makes our memories harder to locate?
Interference
how many types of interference are there?
Two
What is proactive interference?
when an old memory interferes with a new one, calling your new girlfriend your old girlfriends name
Whats Retroactive interference?
when a new memory interferes with an old one, the teacher cant remember the names of her students from last year
Who performed the key research on PI and RI?
McGeoch and McDonald (1931)
What was Mcdonald and McGeoch’s (1931) procedure?
Participants had to learn a list of 10 words with 100% accuracy. Then they were asked to learn a new list of words (6 groups).
What were the other groups of words learnt by the participants?
- synonyms
- antonyms
- unrelated words
- consonant syllables
- three digit numbers
- no new list (control group)
What group had the worst recall?
The group who learnt the synonyms
Why did the group who learnt the synonyms have the worst recall?
due to PI or RI
Whats a strength of interference
- evidence effects in more everyday life, Baddeley and Hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall teams they’d played this season, players who had played the most games had poorest recall
- comes from evidence of the retrograde facilitation, Coenen and Luijtelaar found when a list of words was learnt under influence of drug (diazepam) recall after a week was worse then placebo, but words learnt before drug had better recall than placebo.
whats a limitation of interference
- conditions of interference are rare, labs have high degree of control, forgetting may occur due to something less rare
- temporary, can be overcome by cues, Psotka and Tulving did similar expriment, at the end participants were goven cues, recall averaged to 70%.
