Lesson 8- forgetting interference

Question 1

forgetting

Answer 1

refers to a persons loss of ability to recall or recognise something that they have previously learned

Question 2

interference theory

Answer 2

claims that forgetting occurs when two lots of info become confused in memory, more likey to occur when two lots of info are similar, less likely to occur when there is a gap in instances of learning
-retroactive- when new learning affects recall of old info
-proactive- when old learning affects the recall of new info

Question 3

interference theory evaluation

Answer 3

-Keppel and Underwood 1962, particpants presented with trigrams at different intervals, to prevent rehearsal had to count backwards in threes before recall, participants typically remembered trigrams that were presented first, memory for earlier trigrams was interfering with memory for later trigrams, proactive interference
-McGeoch and McDonald 1931, gave participants a list of words to recall, had to learn until 1005 accuracy, then learned a new list which was either synonyms or antonyms, then asked to remeber original list, participants given synonyms had worst recall, learning second list with similar meanings caused retroactive interference
-practical applications, student awareness so they do not attempt to revise similar content/subjects at the same time as interference is more likely to occur
-when interference occurs the lost of info may only be temporary, therefore not a true explanation for forgetting as info is not over-written and still in ltm
-some psychologists argue retrieval failure is a better explanation of forgetting in everyday life, states we forget when there are not enough retrieval cues to help us remember
Godden and Baddeley 1975 got divers to learn and recall lists of words underwater or on dry land, results showed that words learnt and recalled in same context were better remembered as there were retrieval cues in environment to help remember