Interference Theory

Question 1

What is Proactive interference?

Answer 1

Proactive interference – this is where our previous LTMs interfere with our new LTMs.

(E.g. when getting a new phone which has a new number to learn. You recite the old number instead of the new one. Your previous knowledge is therefore interfering with your new information)

Question 2

What is Retro-active interference?

Answer 2

This is where new information interferes with the
recall of older information.

Question 3

A03 - Rugby Study - Baddely and Hitch

Answer 3

-Support
-They tested rugby players memory of the names of players they had played against in the season
-They found players who played in fewer games recalled more names than those who had played most games
- They attributed this t interference theory

-The study was conducted in a natural environment using real life rugby players memory, so it has high ecological validity to support real life application
-However we must consider these findings with caution, as they’re a unique group of predominantly males who suffer more than the average population from head injuries which could affect recall
- Therefor this may bring the support into question

Question 4

A03 - Keppel and Underwood - Consonant Triagrams

Answer 4

-Examined the effect of proactive interference and response
competition on long-term memory in a lab-based experiment.
- Participants were presented with meaningless three-letter consonant trigrams
- To prevent rehearsal the participants had to count backwards in threes before recalling.

• Keppel and Underwood found that participants typically remembered the trigrams that were presented first, irrespective of the interval length.
• They concluded that the results suggest proactive interference occurred, as memory for the earlier consonants, which had transferred to long-term memory, was interfering with the
  memory for new consonants, due to the similarity of the information presented.
• The findings of this lab-based experiment do lack ecological validity, so whilst they support the proactive interference theory and response competition within a lab environment, they are also limited
  in supporting the theory’s applicability in the real world.

Question 5

A03 - Hard to differentiate between lack of cues and interference theory + space

Answer 5

• Interference theory tells us little about the cognitive processes involved in forgetting.
• Baddeley stated that the tasks given to participants during experiments into interference are
  too close to each other and, in real life events are more spaced out.
• However, there is no doubt that interference plays a role in forgetting, but how much forgetting can be attributed to interference and how much to cue dependent theory or others remains unclear,

-therefore limiting the evidence for the existence of proactive and retroactive interference as two distinct
entities.