Interference Theory

Question 1

What is interference theory?

Answer 1

• forgetting in LTM occurs when memories become confused.
• Interference occurs when one set of info competes with another causing it to be ‘overwritten’ or destroyed
• this is more likely to occur when info is acoustically or semantically similar

2 types of interference
- Proactive = when old memory info impairs the learning and retention of new memory info
- Retroactive = when new memory info impairs the retention of old memory info

Question 2

What was Postman’s study?

Answer 2

Method: 2 groups were given list of paired words to learn e.g cat-tree, jelly-moss. The experimental group were given a second list of words to learn where the second paired word was diff e.g. cat-glass, jelly-time

Findings: Recall of the first list was higher in the control group (that had no second list) than the experimental group

Conclusion: Shows retroactive interference - new info impaired the retention of old info

Question 3

(similar)

How do McGeoch and McDonald support the IT?

Answer 3

• One strength of the theory is that there’s evidence supporting the role of similarity
• McGeoch and McDonald had 2 groups learn 2 lists of words. For one group the seconds list consisted of synonyms of the first list. For the other group the second list consisted of nonsense syllables
• They found that recall of the first list was higher in the group where the second list was nonsense syllables (26%) whereas the group where the second list was synonyms had a recall of 12%
• This is a strength because it shows that the theory is correct in saying that more similar info leads to interference
• This validates IT

Question 4

How is artificiality a weakness of IT?

Answer 4

• One weakness of the theory is that the research it’s based on is artificial
• Much of the research evidence for IT comes from artificial lab experiments which use special conditions such as word-pair stimuli generation
• These conditions are very rare in day-to-day life so the research appears to have little relevance to everyday situations
• This is a weakness because it shows we can’t apply the results from the study to forgetting in real life as the results are only applicable to certain artificial instances
• Thus as the supporting studies lack ecological validity the theory decreases in overall validity

Question 5

How does Ceraso critique the IT?

Answer 5

• One weakness of the theory is that it can be considered an incomplete explanation of forgetting
• Ceraso found that if memory was tested again after 24 hours, recognition had showed spontaneous recovery
• This suggests that interference occurs because memories are temporarily inaccessible rather than permanently lost
• This is a weakness because it shows that IT can only explain temporary forgetting rather than permanent forgetting
• If IT was complete it would be able to explain both permanent and temporary forgetting
• Thus IT can be considered incomplete thus reducing its validity

Question 6

(prac app)

How does Danaher et al support IT?

Answer 6

• One strength of the theory is that there are practical applications
• A lot of research shows that interference occurs when people are exposed to adverts from competing brands within a short time period
• Danaher et al found that recall and recognition of an advertiser’s message were impaired when PPs were exposed to 2 adverts of competing brands sporadically within a week
• Danaher suggested to improved memory of their message advertisers should run multiple exposures of an add on one day to reduce interference
• This is a strength because it shows IT can improve lives in this case through advertising practices
• This increases the utility of IT