Interference Theory Flashcards
What is the interference theory?
some forgetting takes place because of interference, when 2 pieces of information disrupt each other.
What are the two types of interference?
proactive and retroactive
What is proactive interference?
older memories disrupt recall of newer memories.
What is retroactive interference?
newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored.
What did McGeoch and McDonald study in 1931?
studied retroactive interference by changing similarity between two sets of material.
What did McGeoch and McDonald have participants do?
learn a list of words until they could be recalled with 100% accuracy. they then learned a new list of words, depending on their group: (from worst to best recall) synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, three digit numbers, no new list - control group.
What were the results of McGeoch and McDonalds’s study and what did they show?
recall of the first list was worse when the second list was similar, which shows that interference is worse when memories are similar.
How did Baddeley and Hitch’s research in 1977 support the interference theory?
rugby team asked to recall names of teams they had played against. those who had played the most games has the worst recall. supports theory as the memories of games would’ve become more similar as more were played, therefore causing interference.
How did Coenen and Luijtelaar’s research in 1997 support the interference theory?
learnt a list of words and asked to recall 1 week later. 1 group learned whilst on diazepam, the other on a placebo. diazepam group had worse recall BUT if learnt list then took diazepam, recall was better than control group. supports theory, as if interference is stopped by diazepam, recall is better.
Give a piece of evidence against the interference theory.
forgetting can occur even when 2 memories are completely dissimilar, so other things must cause or contribute to forgetting.
How did Tulving and Psotka’s research in 1971 go against the interference theory?
list of words, organised into unknown categories. mean recall declined with each list - interference. at the end, they are told the categories, and recall improved - interference disappeared. goes against theory, as ‘interference’ disappeared as soon as a cue was given, and then they remembered.
