Interference - Forgetting Flashcards
Retroactive?
Old memory being interfered with by new memory.
Learned many names this year she has difficulty remembering last year names.
Proactive?
When a new information is being interfered by old memory
Learned so many names last year can’t remember the new names
Why does forgetting happen?
Due to interference
Two piece of information conflicting with each other resulting in forgetting one or both
Does forgetting happen in the LTM or the STM
LTM as it is more or less permanent therefore forgetting occurs because we can’t access the memory even though they are available which is forgetting.
How many types of interference are there?
2 types of interference
As it’s very likely that memories are stored at different times so psychologists recognise that there are two types of interference.
Which memory is lost in proactive?
The new memory is lost as the old one is interfering with it
Which memory is lost in Retroactive?
The old memory is lost in retroactive as the new memory is messing with the new one
Is interference worse when memories are similar?
Yes as it causes confusion
Who studied retroactive interference?
McGeoh and McDonald
What did McGeoh and McDonald do ?
Had 6 groups of people who and gave them the same 10 words that they had to learn with 100 % accuracy. Then had to learn a new list.
Group 1 - synonyms
Group 2 - antonyms
Group 3 - unrelated words to original one
Group 4 - constant syllables
Group 5 - three digit number
Group 6 - no new list - participants rested
What are the finding of McGoeh and Mc Donald
Group 1 was the worst and it gradually got better until group 6
Shows that similar words and memories make us more confused that is why Group 1 with synonyms are the worst and the best one is Group 6 as they had no new list .
What are the limitations of McGeoh and McDonald research?
Artificial tasks which we don’t do on a normal day - lacks ecological validity
Tulving : intereference caused a temporary loss and was overcome by cues
Who researched retrieval failure and the encoding specificity principle (ESP)
Tulving in 1983
What did Tulving say about cues helping us remember things?
Tulving argued that in order for a cue to be useful and help us recall something it needs to be present at encoding for us to be able to recall it easily.
What happens when retrieval and encoding cues are different ?
Forgetting will occur
How many types of ESP are there?
2 types of
What are the 2 types of ESP called?
Context - dependent forgetting
State - dependent forgetting
What was the aim of the context dependent forgetting research?
The aim was to see if context ( environment) affects the recall of a word lost
What was the method to test for context dependent forgetting?
Diver learned a list of words either on land or underwater.
They then were asked to recall their word list either on land or underwater
What were the results for context dependent forgetting?
If learned on land - answered on land = good recall
If learned underwater - answered underwater = good recall
However
If learned on land - answered underwater = bad recall
If learned underwater - answered on land = bad recall
40% less recall than if it were in the same context
What is the final conclusion for the research of context dependent forgetting?
If you are in the same context then you are more likely to remember the information
What is the aim of state dependent forgetting
To see if state (emotional state) affects the recall of word list
What was the method to test state dependent forgetting?
Gave some participants anti-histamines and some didn’t take them
Gave them a list of words to remember then asked them to recall the word list
What are the results for the state dependent forgetting research?
If on drug - recall on drug = good recall
If not on drug - recall not on drugs = good recall
However
If on drugs -recall not on drugs = bad recall
If not on drugs - recall on drugs = bad recall
