Forgetting: Interference

Question 1

What is interference?

Answer 1

One memory disturbs the ability to recall another, leading to distortion of memories and forgetting.

Question 2

When is interference more likely to happen?

Answer 2

When memories are similar.

Question 3

Interference has been used to explain forgetting in which memory store?

Answer 3

Long term memory.

Question 4

If duration of LTM is permanent, what is forgetting more likely to be a result of?

Answer 4

Forgetting may be due to memories being temporarily inaccessible to us.

Question 5

What is proactive interference?
Give an example.

Answer 5

Old memories interfere with our ability to recall newer memories.
Eg: A teacher struggled to remember the names of her new class because she can only remember the names of her old class.

Question 6

What is retroactive interference?
Give an example.

Answer 6

New memories interfere with our ability to recall older ones.
Eg: A teacher can’t remember the names of her old students because she can only remember the names of her newer ones.

Question 7

Name the researcher who studied how similarity of memories affects our recall.

Answer 7

McDonald

Question 8

What type of interference did McDonald study?

Answer 8

Retroactive

Question 9

What were PPTs asked to learn in McDonald’s study?
(How many?)
When were PPTs told to stop learning words?

Answer 9

PPTs were asked to learn a list of 10 words until they could recall them with 100% accuracy.

Question 10

Why were PPTs in McDonalds’s study then given a new list of words to learn after they could recall the original list with 100% accuracy?

Answer 10

This is because of retroactive interference. The researchers wanted to see how the new memories would impact the ability to recall older ones.

Question 11

State the 6 types of words (6 groups) PPTs may have been asked to learn after their original list.

Answer 11

Group 1 - Synonyms
Group 2 - Antonyms
Group 3 - Unrelated words
Group 4 - Consonant syllables
Group 5 - 3 Digit numbers
Group 6 - No new list (PPTs retested on their original list as a control)

Question 12

What did McDonald find from his study?

Answer 12

It was harder for PPTs to recall synonyms as they were the most similar.

Question 13

What can we conclude from McDonald’s study?

Answer 13

Interference is strongest when memories are similar.

Question 14

How does proactive interference make similar memories harder to recall?

Answer 14

Previously stored information makes new similar information more difficult to remember.

Question 15

How does retroactive interference make similar memories harder to recall?

Answer 15

New information overwrites previous similar memories.

Question 16

Explain the strength of research support from Baddeley and Hitch.
State the sport PPTs in their study played.
How was their study controlled?
What were the PPTs asked to recall.
Why does this research evidence increase the validity of the theory?

Answer 16

Baddeley and Hitch conducted a study on rugby players who were asked to recall the names of teams they had played with during a rugby season. The players had all played over the same time interval but had played different numbers of games due to injury. Players who had played the most games had found it harder to recall the names of all teams. This shows how interference operates in the real world, increasing the validity of the theory.

Question 17

Explain the strength that there is research support for interference from drug studies. (Retrograde facilitation).
Why were PPTs asked to recall their list of words after a time interval?
What did they find about recall when the list was learnt while PPTs were taking diazepam? How did this compare to a control group?
When the list of words was learnt before the drug was taken, why was later recall better?
What did Wixted suggest that taking the drug did to new information entering the brain?
Overall, what do these findings show that forgetting is due to? If we reduce this, what happens to forgetting?

Answer 17

PPTs were given a list of words and were later asked to recall them, assuming the time interval between would act as interference. They found that when the list was learnt after taking diazepam, recall a week later was poor compared to a placebo control group. When a list of words was learnt before the drug was taken, later recall was better because the drug caused them to forget anything they learnt after taking it. Wixted suggested that after taking the drug, new information is prevented from reaching the part if the brain actively involved in processing memories, so it cannot interfere retroactively with information already stored. This finding shows that forgetting can be due to interference, so if interference is reduced then forgetting is reduced.

Question 18

Explain the limitation that studies used to support interference theory have issues with reliable.
Although studies are done in labs (explain what this allows researchers to control), why can this mean findings aren’t accurate?

Answer 18

Most of the studies are done in labs, so researchers can control variables and reduce CVs. Control over CVs means that these researchers can find a clear link between interference and forgetting. But these studies use artificial materials and unrealistic procedures, as when we learn something in real life and recall it, there is a longer gap in between recall. This means we cannot be sure whether the research is reliable or not