Forgetting - Interference

Question 1

Interference

Answer 1

When one piece of information gets in the way of the retrieval of another piece of information because they’re similar.

Question 2

Proactive interference

Answer 2

when old information interferes with the retrieval of new information

Question 3

retroactive interference

Answer 3

When new information interferes with the retrieval of old information.

Question 4

Retroactive examples

Answer 4

• being asked to give your old phone number for a document but being unable to recall it due to the interference of your new phone number.

Question 5

Proactive examples

Answer 5

• calling your new girlfriend by your old girlfriends name
• using french word “chien” instead of Spanish word “Perro” for dog due to prior learning of french.

Question 6

Underwood (1957) - proactive

Answer 6

The more word lists participants had to learn, the worse their recall (20% for ten lists, compared to 70% for one list) - an example of proactive interference.

Question 7

McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - similar memories

Answer 7

-participants had to learn a list of words and were given a 10 minute interval to do so
-they then learned a new list (A= synonyms of original list - 12% recall of A, B= nonsense syllables - 26% recall of A, C= numbers - 36% recall of A)
(this shows that interference is strongest when memories are similar.)

Question 8

Evaluation negatives

Answer 8

• no actual explanation of why interference occurs as it only explains how and doesn’t include explanations as to the cognitive processes that take place
• low ecological validity and mundane realism due to the unrealistic scenarios tested and the lab environment