M - Explanations for forgetting: Interference Flashcards
What is interference an explanation of?
Forgetting.
What are the 2 explanations of forgetting?
Interference and retrieval failure.
Define interference
An explanation of forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another. This is most likely to occur when the two memories have some similarity.
When is interference most likely to occur?
When the two memories have some similarity.
Define proactive interference (PI)
Past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something.
Define retroactive interference (RI)
Current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning.
Who identified retroactive interference?
Muller and Pilzecker, 1990
Describe the experiment Muller and Pilzecker used to discover retroactive interference effects
They gave ppts a list of nonsense syllables to learn for 6 minutes and then, after a retention interval, asked ppts to recall the lists.
Performance was less good if ppts had been given an interviewing task between initial learning and recall (they were shown three landscape paintings and asked to describe them).
The intervening task produced RI as the later task (describing the pictures) interfered with what had been previously learned.
Who identified proactive interference?
Benton Underwood, 1957.
Describe how Underwood identified the effects of proactive interference
He analysed the findings from a number of studies and concluded that when ppts have to learn a series of word lists they do not learn the lists of words encountered later on in the sequence as well as lists of words encountered earlier on.
He found that if ppts memorised 10 or more lists, then after 24 hours, they remembered about 20% of what they learned. If they only learned one list recall was over 70%.
Who studied the effects of similarity of test materials for interference?
McGeoch and McDonald, 1931.
How did McGeoch and McDonald study the effects of similarity of test materials for interference and what did they find?
They gave ppts a list of 10 adjectives (list A). Once these were learned there was then a resting interval of 10mins during which they learned list B, followed by recall.
- If list B was a list of synonyms of List A, recall was poor (12%).
- If list B was nonsense syllabus this had less effect (26% recall).
- If list B was numbers this had the least effect (37% recall).
This shows that interference is strongest the more similar the items are. Only interference, rather than decay, can explain such effects.
How does the similarity of the items effect interference?
Interference is strongest the more similar the items are.
Explain how Baddeley and Hitch (1977) investigated interference effects in an everyday setting
They got rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against over a rugby season.
Some players had played in all of the games in the season whereas others missed some games because of injury. The time interval from the start to the end of the season was the same for all players but the number of intervening games was different for each player because of missed games.
If decay is correct then all players should recall a similar % of the games played because time alone should cause forgetting. If interference theory is correct then those players who played the most games should forget proportionately more because of interference - which is what Baddeley and Hitch found, demonstrating the effect of interference in everyday life.
