Lesson 8 - forgetting: interference

Question 1

what is forgetting

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what is interference theory

Answer 2

forgetting occurs when two lots of info have been confused
more likely to occur when two lots of info are similar
less likely to occur when there is a gap between instances of learning

Question 3

what are the two types of interference

Answer 3

retroactive interference
proactive interference

Question 4

what is retroactive interference

Answer 4

when new learning affects the recall of old information

Question 5

what is proactive interference

Answer 5

when old learning affects the recall of new information

Question 6

strengths of interference theory

Answer 6

• keppel and underwood - proactive interference, pps given consonant trigrams and repeated at different intervals, remembered trigrams presented first, memory from earlier trigrams interfered with memory for later ones
• mcgeoch and mcdonald - retroactive interference, learn words until 100% accuracy, then give a new list of synonyms or antonyms, asked to remember original list, those who had synonyms had worse recall

Question 7

weaknesses of interference theory

Answer 7

• when interference occurs, loss of info may be temporary so cannot be a true explanation as info is still in LTM
• retrieval failure is better as cues needed to remember e.g. golden and baddeley got divers to learn and recall word lists in different conditions, those learnt and recalled in the same context were better remembered