interference

Question 1

interference

Answer 1

forgetting because one memory blocks another - causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

Question 2

proactive interference

Answer 2

forgetting when old memories disrupt the recall of new memories

greater when memories are similar

Question 3

retroactive

Answer 3

new memories disrupt older memories

forgetting greater when memories similar

Question 4

research procedure

Answer 4

McGeoch and McDonald

• participants learn list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy

1 - synonyms
2 - antonyms
3 - unrelated words
4 - consonant syllables
5 - three-digit numbers
6 - no new list - control condition (rested)

Question 5

research findings

Answer 5

participants were asked to recall original list of words

synonyms - worst recall

shows the interference is strongest when memories are similar

Question 6

explanations of the effects of similarity

Answer 6

reason similarity affects recall

due to proactive - previously stores information makes new similar information more difficult to store

or retroactive - new information overwrites previous similar memories because of similarity

Question 7

real-world interference

Answer 7

P - strength - evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations
E - Baddeley and Hitch - rugby players to recall names of teams they played against - players all played for same time interval or number of intervening games due to missing cause of injury
E - players who played the most games had the poorest recall
L - interference can operate in some real-world situation increasing validity of theory

P - interference may cause forgetting but unusual
E - conditions necessary for interference are relatively rare - unlike lab studies where high degree of control
E - may happen occasionally in everyday life but not often
L - suggests most forgetting may be better explained by other theories eg retrieval failure due to lack of cues

Question 8

interference and cues

Answer 8

P - limitation is interference is temporary and using cues to overcome
E - Tulving and Psotka - gave participants list of words organised into categories - one list at a time - recall 70% for first list then worse with learning each additional list
E - at the end of procedure participants given a cued recall test - rose again to 70%
L - interference causing temporary loss of accessibility - a finding not predicted by interference theory

Question 9

support from drug studies

Answer 9

P - strength from evidence of retrograde faciliation
E - participants list of words and later asked to recall the list - assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference
E - list of words learned under influence of drug, recall one week later poorer than placebo but when learnt before drug recall better - drugs prevent new information reaching parts of brain involved in processing memories
L - shows forgetting can be due to interference - reduce the interference and you reduce the forgetting