Interference Flashcards
What is interference
If two memories compete with each other, one memory may prevent us from accessing the other memory.
What was the aim of McGeoch and McDonald’s study (INTERFERENCE STUDY)
McGeoch and McDonald aimed to see whether the accuracy of recalling a list of words would be affected by a competing set of words.
Method of McGeoch and McDonald study of interference
Participants learned a list of ten words and then were shown a new list.
There were five different new lists:
1. Synonyms
2. Antonyms
3. Words unrelated to the original ones
4. Consonant syllables
5. Three digit numbers
One control group where there was no new list the participants were just reseted
Results of McGeoch and McDonald Study (OF INTERFERENCE)
When asked to recall the original list of words thr performance depended not he nature of the second list
Similar materials (synonyms) produced least accurate recall
Conclusion of McGeoch and McDonald study of interference
Interference is strongest when an intervening activity is similar. In other words forgetting is more lilkely to happen in you try do something quite similar after
Evaluate McGeoch and McDonalds study of interference
A strength of the study was that there was high control by using. A number of techniques.
One of these techniques is counterbalancing were used to reduce the impact that learning the lists in the same order would have on the results.
This means that the study of interference was less bias because it dealt with order effect.
A weakness of the study is that it does not reflect real-life memory activity.
We don’t often have to remember lists of words or very similar things this means that the study only tells is about one aspect of memory.
This means that the conclusion about the effect of interference is limited because of its artificiality.
A weakness with interference is that it may not be an explanation of forgetting.
It may be that information is not forgotten but just cannot be accessed because an appropriate cue has not been given (Tulving and Psotka).
Therefore interference doesn’t cause inaccurate memories but simply there is not cues to recall.
