Explanations for forgetting: Interference (4)

Interference theory (1)

Some forgetting takes place because of interference.

 

This occurs when two pieces of information disrupt each other, resulting in forgetting one or both pieces OR resulting in some distorted memory.

 

Interference has been proposed mainly as an explanation for forgetting LTM. Once information has reached the LTM it is more or less permanent.

Interference theory (2)

Any forgetting of LTM is most likely because we cant get access to them even though they are available.

 

Interference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them, and this is experienced as ‘forgetting’

Types of interference (1)

It is very likely that the two or more memories that are interfering with each other were stored at different times. Psychologists see two types of interference;

 

1. Proactive interference (PI) = occurs when an older memory interferes with a newer one.

2. Retroactive interference (RI) = happens when a newer memory interferes with an older one.

Research on the effects of similarity (1)

In both PI and RI the interference is worse when memories are similar. (McDonald and McGeogh)

 

Procedure =

 

McDonald and McGeogh studied RI by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials.

 

Participants has to learn a list of 10 words until they remembered them with 100% accuracy, they then learned a new list.

Research on the effects of similarity (2)

There were 6 groups who had to learn different types of new lists.

 

1. Synonyms

2. Antonyms

3. Words unrelated to the original list

4. Consonant syllables

5. Three digit numbers

6. No new list (control group)

Research on the effects of similarity (3)

Findings = when participants were asked to recall the original list of words the most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall. This shows that interference is the strongest when the memories are similar.

Explanations of the effects of similarity (1)

There are 2 possible reasons why similarity affects recall.

 

1. It could be due to PI, previously stored information makes new information more difficult to story

 It could be due to RI, new information overwrites previously similar memories because of the similarity.

A03 - real world interference

There is evidence of interference effects in more every day situations.

 

Baddeley and Hitch, asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a rugby season.

 

The players all played for the same time interval over one season but the nome of intervening games varied (Injury). Players who played the most games has the poorest recall (most interference for memory).

 

This study shows that interference can operate in at least some real-world situations, increasing the validity of the theory.

A03 - interference effects may be overcome using cues

Tulving and Psotka gave participants up to 6 different lists of 24 words lists, the words were organised into categories but participants were not told what the categories were.

 

Recall avarage at 70% for the first list, but became progressively worse as participants learned each additional list (Interference)/

 

At the end of procedure the participants were given a cued recall test - they where told the names of the categories and recall rose again to 70%.

 

This shows that interference does not cause permanent forgetting, but rather makes memories inaccessible, a finding not predicted by the theory.

A03 - individual differences in interference effects

Some people are more resistant to the effects of interference than others, it does not apply to all people and is limited.

 

Vogel and colleagues (2005) gave participants a series of tasks to test their working memory capacity.

 

The highest and lowest scorers where then given additional tasks designed to created proactive interference.

 

It was found that individuals with high WMC were much less likely to be affected by PI than low WMC people where.

 

This research suggests that high WMC is associated with an enhanced filtering ability which helps prevent irrelevant information from cluttering memory, making high WMC individuals less susceptible as they can maintain focus.