Interference Theory - Explanations for forgetting

Question 1

What is interference theory?

Answer 1

This theory suggests that errors in LTM are sometimes due to interference from other
LTMs. It takes on two forms:
Proactive and Retroactive interference

Question 2

Whats Proactive interference?

Answer 2

-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 3

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 3

-New information interferes with the recall of older information.
- E.g.Imagine that you learn French language in year 7 and 8. In year 9 you learn Spanish.
- The new language then corrupts your French vocabulary that was previously learnt.

Question 4

A03 - Rugby Study - Baddely and Hitch

Answer 4

-Support for the Interference theory comes from the findings of Baddeley and Hitch (1977)who tested
rugby players’ memory of the names of players they had played against in that season.
-They found that players who had played in fewer games recalled proportionately more names than those who had played in the most games.
- The researchers attributed this
to interference.

-Baddeley and Hitch’s study was conducted in a natural environment using real rugby players’ recollections and therefore demonstrates high ecological validity to support the real-life application of interference theory.
-However, we must consider these findings with caution; rugby players are a unique group of predominantly males who suffer more than the average population with head injuries which could affect recall and therefore may bring the support for the interference theory into question.

Question 5

A03 - Keppel and Underwood - Consonant Triagrams

Answer 5

-Keppel and Underwood 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 at different intervals
-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 6

A03 - Hard to differentiate between lack of cues and interference

Answer 6

-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.