Theories of forgetting: Interference Flashcards
Interference as a theory of forgetting
-When two pieces of information conflict with one another, resulting in a forgetting or distortion of one or both items.
-It is primarily proposed as a theory for forgetting in long term memory.
-Once information has reached the LTM it is mostly permanent(i.e. forgetting of LTM items is down to us not being able to access them whilst they are still available).
-Interference between items makes it harder for us to locate/access the items, this is experienced as ‘forgetting’.
Types of interference (As an explanation of forgetting)
-It is likely that the two or more memories that interfere with one another were encoded at different times, psychologists explain this as two different types of interference:
-Proactive interference: when an older item interferes with a newer item.
-Retroactive interference: when a newer item interferes with an older item.
McGeoch and McDonald(1931)
-Studied retroactive interference.
-Had participants learn a list of words to 100% accuracy, then had them learn a new list of words. Then had participants recall the original list of words.
-The second list had 6 variants:
Group 1: synonyms to original words
Group 2: antonyms to original words
Group 3: words unrelated to original list
Group 4: nonsense syllables
Group 5: three digit numbers
Group 6: no second list (control)
-They found that their recall performance on the original list depended on the similarity of the second list. If the second list was more similar recall was worse and vice versa.
-This shows that interference is strongest when memories are similar.
Evidence from lab studies(interference)(AO3)
-Thousands of lab studies have been carried out testing interference.
-An example of this is McDonald and McGeoch.
-Most studies show support for both types of interference as likely ways for forgetting.
-This is a strength as lab experiments control the effects of irrelevant influences and thus gives us confidence that interference is a valid explanation for atleast some elements of forgetting.
