interference

what is proactive interference

when past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something new

what is retroactive interference

when current attempts to learn something new interferes with past learning

when is interference most likely to happen

when 2 pieces of information are similar due to response competition

when is interference less likely to happen

when there’s a large gap between instances of learning

Procedure of McGeoch and McDonald for retroactive inteference

Studied retroactive interference by changing amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials.

Participants learned list of 10 words until they remembered them fully. Then learned new list of words.

6 groups of participants who learned different type of new list- synonyms, unrelated to old words, antonmys, consonant syllables, numbers, no list-just tested recall of old list

Strength is evidence from everyday situations (Baddeley and Hitch)

They asked rugby players to recall names of teams they’d played against. Players who played most amount of time in games (most interference memory) had poorest recall

Shows interference can operate in real world situations increasing validity of theory.

Findings of McGeoth and McDonald

When participants recalled original list of words, group with synonyms (similar meaning) produce worst recall.

Shows interference is strongest when memories are similar

Limitation is interference is temp and overcome by using cues (Tulving)

He gave participants list of words organised in categories.

Recall was 70% for 1st list but became worse when participants learned each additional list (proactive interference)

End of procedure, participants given cue-told names of categories. Recall rose to 70%

Shows interference cause temp loss of accessibility to material in LTM

Limitation is most studies used are lab

Most studied supporting interference are lab based so can control variables (time between learning info and recalling it) which show link between interference and forgetting.

But studies use artificial methods. In daily life, we learn something and recall it alot later

What is interference

• explanation of forgetting when 2 pieces of info conflict with each other

• results in inability to access this info