Forgetting: Interference

Question 1

What is the Interference Theory?

Answer 1

The interference theory is the idea that when 2 pieces of information conflict with each other, it causes 1 or both pieces of information to be forgotten.

Information from your LTM is permanent so forgetting is probably due to a lack of access to these memories despite them being available.

Interference only makes them harder to access.

Question 2

What are the 2 types of interference?

Answer 2

1) Proactive Interference - past memories interfere with your ability to form new memories.

2) Retroactive Interference - recent memories interfere with old memories.

Question 3

Interference is worse when both pieces of information are similar - McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Effects of similarity - Aim

Answer 3

Investigate how different types of interference can affect memory recall.

Question 4

Interference is worse when both pieces of information are similar - McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Effects of similarity - Procedure

Answer 4

• Participants had to successfully learn a set of 10 words with 100% accuracy.
• They were then put into one of the following conditions: synonyms, antonyms, words unrelated to the original, nonsense syllables, three digit numbers or rested.

Question 5

Interference is worse when both pieces of information are similar - McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Effects of similarity - Findings

Answer 5

When asked to recall the original list, performance depended on the nature of the 2nd task.

Question 6

Interference is worse when both pieces of information are similar - McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Effects of similarity - Conclusion

Answer 6

Interference is strongest when tasks are similar.