Explantions For Forgetting - Interference

Question 1

Interference A01

Answer 1

Forgetting occurs when 2 peices of information conflict with each other, resulting in a memory getting disrupted, resulting in forgetting of one or both of the memories.

It occurs when a memory becomes disrupted not only by previous learning but also by what is learned in the future

Once information has reached the long-term memory it is relatively permanent, so anything forgetting is likely to be because we can’t get access to the information even though it is still available.

Interference makes it harder to recall them

Interference is more likely to occur when the conflicting information is more similar to one another.

Question 2

What are the two types of interference

Answer 2

Proactive and retroactive

Question 3

What is proactive interference?

Answer 3

Proactive interference occurs when old existing memories disrupts new information resulting in preventing recall of the new information
i.e. interference goes forwards

Question 4

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 4

Retroactive interference occurs when newly learned information (new memories) disrupted old existing memory resulting in preventing recall of old existing memories

Question 5

Name and explain the study that can be used to support interference

Answer 5

Peterson and Peterson’s trigram experiment

lab experiment in which participants were presented with trigrams and then required to count backwards in threes to prevent rehearsal.
They then had to recall the trigram after varying intervals of time.
Only 10% of trigrams were recalled after 18 seconds.

It supports interference as memory of early trigrams may disrupt recall of new ones because they are similar.
This is evidence for proactive interference

Question 6

Is interference a form of long-term memory forgetting or short term memory forgetting?

Answer 6

LTM

Question 7

EVALUATION of interference as an explanation of forgetting
SL
S

Answer 7

S : research support PETERSON + PETERSON
L: artificial tasks

S: real life studies support BADDELY AND HITCH

Question 8

EVALUATION of interference as an explanation of forgetting
Artificial materials

Answer 8

The stimulus materials used in studies of interference involve learning lists of words or trigrams. This is artificial as it is far from the things we learn and try to remember in real life.

This is a weakness of interference theory because the use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in the lab. Interference may not be as likely an explanation for forgetting in everyday life.

Question 9

EVALUATION of interference as an explanation of forgetting
Real life study support

Answer 9

Baddeley and Hitch
investigated interference of effects in an every day setting of rugby players. Rugby players were asked to recall the names of the teams they had played over the season. Those who have played fewer games (because they had missed several through injury) record more teams then those who had played all season.

This study supports retroactive interference as the more recent games are conflicting with the old games which then disrupts the recall of old games. Players who had played more recent games would forget more of the old team names because they have more new information which prevents recall.

This study shows that interference explanations can apply to least some every day situations.