Forgetting

What is interference?

forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or more memories to be distorted or forgotten.

What are the 2 different types of interference?

Proactive and Retroactive

What is the acronym to be able to remember which type of interference is which?

PORN (Proactive old, retroactive new)

What is proactive interference?

forgetting because older memories disrupt recall of newer memories.

Degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar 

What does Retroactive interference mean?

forgetting because newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored. Forgetting is greater when memories are similar. 

Study to support Retroactive interference? McGeoch + McDonald (1931)

McGeoch + McDonald (1931)

Group 1: given list of words, practiced until could recall with 100% accuracy

then given second list , contained words with similar meaning

Group 2: Given list of words, practiced until could recall with 100% accuracy

second list was totally different info e.g. 3 digit numbers

when asked to recall first list, those who learned synonyms, had worse recall.

shows existence of retroactive interference, second list(newer/more recent) disrupted older memory of first list

Study to support Retroactive interference? Baddeley + Hitch (1977)

wanted to find out if interference was better explanation for forgetting than passing of time. Asked rugby players to remember names of teams they had played that season week by week

Results showed that recall of teams didnt depend of how long ago, but how many games played. 

Players with fewer games played recalled more + vice versa

Study that supports Proactive Interference? Keppel + Underwood (1962)

examined effect of proactive interference on LTM.
Trigrams at diff intervals, had to could back in 3’s before recalling.

found that participants remembered trigrams that were presented first, no matter length.

What is retrieval failure?

where info is available but cant be recalled because of absence of cues

What is context dependant forgetting?

At the point of remembering something, you also take in info from env, e.g external cues, if cues are absent when trying to retrieve this info, leads to forgetting

Study for Context dependant forgetting? Godden + Baddeley(1975)

Deep sea divers, list of words to remember, some learned on beach, others under 15 feet, recall was best when divers recalled words in same env as they learned, env acting as a cue.

shows that context may be a minimal role in aiding recall due to extremity of actions.

Study for Context dependant forgetting? Grant (1998)

Lab experiment, independent measures design, sample of 39 americans. Tested one at a time
4 conditions were:

learn in silence, recall in silence - matching

learn in silence, recall in noise - non-matching

learn in noise, recall in noise - matching

learn in noise, recall in silence - non-matching

Each participant wore headphones, noisy conditions listened to background noise of cafeteria. They read a 2 page, 3 columned article on psychoimmunology, allowed to highlight or underline

asled to complete a short 10-answer test and a 16 multiple test after

found that performance on both tests were better when participant learned and retrieved info in matching environment

Study for Context dependent forgetting in real-life? Aggleton + Waskett (1999)

45 participants who were asked to remember featuers of jorvik viking centre in York, which recreated a 10th century city

found that participants who were exposed to museums smell again could recall their visit more accurately than those who relied on memory alone.
external cue of smell of city helped trigger memories that were learned at the museum

What is state dependent forgetting?

At initial point of remembering something, also take in certain state/mood you are in e.g. internal cues. If cues are absent when trying to retrieve info, leads to forgetting

State of mind can act as a cue

Goodwin et al (1969) found that participants who had hidden money or alchohol when drunk and were unable to remember where the next day, were able to find it the next time that they were drunk

Study to support State dependent forgetting? Carter + Cassaday (1998)

Gave antihistamines with slight tiring effect to group of participants, followed by recall task. Compared to non-sedated control group.

4 conditions:

Learn on drug - recall on drug = matched condition

Learn on drug - recall without drug = mismatched condition

learn without drug - recall without drug = matched condition

learn without drug - recall on drug = mismatched condition

found that participants best recalled words when they were in same state of mind as when they learned the words.