memory-explanations of forgetting

Question 1

what is proactive interference

Answer 1

where an older learning/an older memory affects recall of new information/an older memory

Question 2

give two examples of proactive interference

Answer 2

-when you get a new phone number and your old phone number disrupts the learning of you new phone number
-when your birthday goes and you tell people your old age instead of new

Question 3

what is retroactive interference

Answer 3

where new learning/memory may affect recall of old information

Question 4

give an example of retroactive interference

Answer 4

-if you learnt to drive a manual car then get an automatic you may struggle to remember how to drive a manual car

Question 5

when is it likely that interference will occur

Answer 5

when material is similar as it creates response competition

Question 6

what did chandler state

Answer 6

students who study similar subjects at the same time often experience interference

Question 7

who suggested the two explanations for interference

Answer 7

ceraso

Question 8

what are the two explanations for interference

Answer 8

competition of response theory
unlearning theory

Question 9

what is the competition of response theory

Answer 9

new information has shifted to where the old information was. We still attempt to retrieve old information from this location which results in errors in memory

Question 10

what is the unlearning theory

Answer 10

new learning replaces previous learning so that the old learning is unlearnt

Question 11

who found the supporting evidence for proactive interference

Answer 11

keppel and underwood

Question 12

what did keppel and underwood find

Answer 12

they had a laboratory experiment where participants were presented with a consonant trigram
-they then had to count backwords is 3s to prevent rehearsal of the trigram
-participants remembered trigrams that were presented first regardless of interval length

Question 13

what does this experiment suggest

Answer 13

that proactive interference occurred as material was similar (both trigrams)

Question 14

what are some + and - of keppel and underwoods experiment

Answer 14

+high control over extraneous variables as it was a lab experiment so you can be sure the only thing affecting the IV was the DV so it has high validity
-lacks ecological validity-its an artificial contrived situation which doesn’t reflect memory in real life

Question 15

who found the supporting evidence for retroactive interference

Answer 15

schmidt

Question 16

what did schmidt find

Answer 16

-211 participants were given a map of the molunburg neighbourhood with 48 street names replaced with numbers
-they found a positive corrolation between number of times they had moved house and the number of street names forgotton

Question 17

evaluate schmidt study

Answer 17

-other extraneous variables could affect how well we can recall street names eg-having memories associated with that street
-its a eurocentric study (Dutch)

Question 18

which two studies support the idea that similarities affects interference

Answer 18

baddely and hitch
AND
mcgeoch and mcdonald

Question 19

what did baddely and hitch find

Answer 19

-rugby players had to try and recall the names of teams they had played against
-the time interval between the start to end of the season was the same but number of games played was different as some players had missed games eg-due to injury
-it was found that forgetting was more due to the amount of games played rather that the time passessed

Question 20

how does baddely and hitchs experiment support interference theory

Answer 20

as it shows similarities lead to confusion supporting the idea that forgetting occurs when material is similar

Question 21

evaluate baddely and hitchs experiment

Answer 21

-high in ecological validity as its a field experiment which means its true to memory in real life

Question 22

what did mcgeoch and mcdonald find

Answer 22

they gave participants a list of adjectives (list A) the gave them list b to learn and tested their recall of this
when list B was…
synonyms-12%
nonsense syllables-26%
numbers-37%

Question 23

what does mcgeoch and mcdonalds experiment suggest about interference

Answer 23

as the list with synonyms was recalled worst it shows interference is more likely to occur when material is similar

Question 24

what are two criticisms of interference theory

Answer 24

-that it only explains forgetting when two sets of information are similar
this doesn’t happen very often so doesn’t explain forgetting in real life setting
-it doesn’t tell us much about the cognitive processes involved in forgetting

Question 25

supporting evidence for retrival failure being due to the lack of cues

Answer 25

Tulving and Psotka

Question 26

what did tulving and psotka do

Answer 26

gave participants 24 words each organised into 6 categories
-recall was 70% for the first word but fell as participants were given additional lists of words to learn presumably due to interference
-however at the end they were given a clued recall test-they were told the names of the categories as a clue -recall rose to 70%
-suggests interference disappears when given a clued recall

Question 27

how is interference theory useful to real life

Answer 27

-helps us understand that in order to memorise something we need it to stand out eg-by making up a rhyme or song
-advertisers also know that they have to space there adverts apart from rival brands

Question 28

what is cue dependent forgetting

Answer 28

cue dependent forgetting sees recall as dependent upon retrieval cues prompt or triggers which are stored at the same time as memory

Question 29

what is recall dependent on in cue dependent forgetting

Answer 29

recall is dependent upon accessing information by remembering the retrieval cue under which information was stored

Question 30

what is context dependent failure (environmental)

Answer 30

-this occurs with external retrieval cues
-this is when forgetting occurs when external environment is different at recall from how it was encoded thus inhibits memory

Question 31

what is state dependent failure (emotional/physical)

Answer 31

-this occurs with internal retrieval cues
-this is when forgetting occurs when an Individuals internal environment is different at recall to when information was encoded

Question 32

what is an example of a context dependent cue

Answer 32

eg- a place, weather, smell

Question 33

what is an example of a state dependent cue

Answer 33

eg-being in a different mood or state or arousal may inhibit a memory
trying to recall information learnt sober when you are drunk

Question 34

who are the two people that found supporting evidence for context dependant failure

Answer 34

abernethy
godden and baddeley

Question 35

what did abernethy find

Answer 35

he found after learning some material participants who were tested on the material in an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar teacher recalled it less well than participants who were tested in a familiar room with a familiar teacher

Question 36

what does abernethy study suggest

Answer 36

that we need context cues to recall information

Question 37

what did godden and Baddeley do

Answer 37

they go 13 male and 5 female divers
they gave them a list of 36 words of 2-3 syllables to recall

Question 38

what was the recall when learning was on water and recall was on land

Answer 38

23%

Question 39

what was the recall when leaning was on water and recall was on water

Answer 39

32%

Question 40

evaluate godden and baddeleys study

Answer 40

+helps us improve memory in places like schools and workplaces
-it was a repeated measures design so order effects may have taken place and participants may have done better through practice or worse due to boredom

Question 41

the two people who found supporting evidence for state dependent failure

Answer 41

darley
overton

Question 42

what did darley find

Answer 42

he found that particpents who hid money while high on marijuana were less able to recall where the money was when not high than when they were high again-supporting state dependant failure as an explantion for forgetting

Question 43

what did overton find

Answer 43

he got participants to learn information either sober or drunk and found recall was worse if they were in a different internal state at recall then their internal state at coding.

Question 44

which tasks did overtons memory task include

Answer 44

verbal-rote learning task, word association task and picture recognition task

Question 45

why is this a weakness

Answer 45

as it lacks mundane realism as drunk/high people don’t usually do thus task

Question 46

what is another alternative explanation of forgetting

Answer 46

repression-where emotionally threating events are thought to be banished into the unconscious memory to prevent feelings of anxiety they might cause

Question 47

what did williams find in regards to repression

Answer 47

38% of females had no recall of the earlier abuse and of those who did recall it 16% reported that at one time they hadn’t been able to recall it

Question 48

what do williams findings suggest

Answer 48

that painful memories can be forgotten then later recovered supporting the idea of repression

Question 49

how is this information useful in real life

Answer 49

+helps us overcome forgetting in everyday situations
+its useful in forensics and police work it asks eyewitnesses to recall every detail of the crime
it may even ask witnesses to go to the scene of the crime to recreate context cues
+useful to patients with dementia if the are exposed to smells that were common in there younger days these could act as cues triggering memories difficult to locate in LTM