interference theory Flashcards
what is interference theory
-where two lots of info become confused in the memory
what is forgetting an issue of
either availability or accessibility of info
how did McGeoch and McDonald investigate interferance
-give ppts a list of 10 adjectives (list A)
-once learnt, there was a resting interval when they learnt list B
-followed by recall
findings of McGeoch and McDonald
-if list B was a list of sysnonyms for list A then recall was poor (12 %)
-if list B was nonsense syllables this had less effect (26%)
-shows interference is strongest with more similar items
what is interference theory
-when one memory disturbs the ability to recall another
what may interferance resut in
forgetting/distorting
when is interference most likely to happen
when the memories are similar
what are the two types of interference
-proactive
-retroactive
whats proactive interference
-previously learnt info interferes with new info you’re trying to store
what is retroactive interference
-a newer memory interferes with older ones
-e.g. cant remember old postcode bc u learnt new one
what was baddeley and hitch’s experiment
-asked rugby players to recall names of teams recently played
-the time interval between first and last game was the same for all players but the number of intervening games was different
what allowed baddeley and hitch to test interference against time (decay)
-injuries and suspensions ,meant most of the players had missed some games (for some the last time they played was a week ago but for others it was 2 months)
what were baddeley and hitch able to show
-the probability of correct recall wasn’t dependant on passage of time as decay theory would predict
-rather was on the number of intervening games
findings depending on number of intervening games (baddeley and hitch)
-players with most games remembered proportionately less
-recall for the last games were equally good whether it was played some time ago or last week
