Memory - Forgetting Interference

Question 1

Forgetting definition

Answer 1

The failure to retrieve memories

Question 2

Inference theory

Answer 2

Forgetting is due to LTM being confused with or disrupted by other (similar) info during coding. This confusion then leads to inaccurate recall .

Question 3

The two types of inferencing

Answer 3

Retroactive and proactive

Question 4

Retroactive interference

Answer 4

Recent learning interferes with info we have previous learned.

Question 5

Proactive interference

Answer 5

previously learned info interferes with more recent learning

Question 6

Ao3 - Schmidt et al 2000 - aim and procedure

Answer 6

Aim: to asses the influence of retroactive interference upon memory of street names learned during childhood.

Procedure:700 ppts randomly selected out of 1700, and all sent a questionnaire.
- 211 responded, given a map of the area with the 48 street names replaced with numbers - they were asked to remember as many as possible.
- retroactive interference was assessed by the number of times individuals had moved to other neighbourhoods or cities

Question 7

A03 findings - Schmidt et al

Answer 7

• pos association between the number of times ppts have mov ed house and the number of street names forgotten.
• they concluded: learning new patterns of street names when moving house makes recalling older street names harder
• retroactive does seem to be able to explain the pattern of forgetting in some real-life app.

Question 8

A03 of Schmidt et al (2000)

Answer 8

• extraneous variables (limitation ) eg. How long they lived near the school, age, conditions when filling in the questionnaire.
  -association (limitation) - can’t establish causation vs.correlation
• real life application, shows we can conduct research of both retroactive and further adapted to proactive interference

Question 9

Baddeley and hitch (1977)

Answer 9

• asked rugby players to remember as many teams as possible that they had played
• interference was tested by assessing how recall was affected by the no. Of games played
  -forgetting was due to the number of games that had been played, rather than the amount of time passed.

Question 10

McGeoch and McDonald (1931)- procedure

Answer 10

Procedure: they studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of material .
Ppts had to learn a list of words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy
They then learned a new list
- there were six groups of ppts who had to learn different types of lists

Question 11

McGeoch and McDonald (1931 )- findings

Answer 11

When ppts recalled the original list of words, their performance depended on the nature of this list.
- the most similar lists (synonyms) produced the worst recall

Question 12

A03 - the theory does not explain everything

Answer 12

• the concept only explains forgetting when two pieces of info are similar. (Harder to generalise)
• cannot be applied to everyday real life app.
• concept is limited to only explain forgetting in certain situations, so it cannot explain forgetting when there is no competing info
• real life app is limited.

Question 13

A03- supporting lab experiments

Answer 13

• numerous lab experiments on forgetting
• a strength because there is a controlled environment
• improves the internal validity of the study
• very controlled thousands of studies = high reliability.

Question 14

A03 - lab experiments limitation

Answer 14

Hawthorne effects in studies- nervous as well.
Cannot be generalised = low ecological validly

Question 15

A03- supporting evidence

Answer 15

Some very realistic studies that consider interference in very realistic situations, and everyday applications.
- results of the studies can be generalised more
- high ecological validity

Question 16

A03 - other theories

Answer 16

Other theories exist and often have farm more evidence- eg retieval failure, is often considered as the “dominant “ theory , and lots of supporting evidence