Explanations For Forgetting: Interference

Question 1

What are the 2 different types of interference?

Answer 1

Retroactive interference - current attempts to learn something interfere with the past learning
Proactive interference - past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something

Question 2

Explain McGeoch and McDonalds study into the similarity of test materials and it’s effects

Answer 2

Participants got a list of 10 adjectives (list A), once these were learned there was a resting interval of 10 minutes during which they learned list B, followed by recall.

If list B was a list of synonyms of A then recall was poor (12%)
If list B was was nonsense syllabus that had less of an effect (26%)
If list B was numbers recall was the best at (37%)

Question 3

Explain one criticism of Interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 3

Interference only explains some situations of forgetting

Question 4

Outline a real-world study about interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 4

Baddeley and Hitch investigated rugby players about recalling the names of the teams they played against over the season. Some played all games others played less due to injuries. The players that played the most and therefore had the most to remember, proportionally recalled the least.