Interference and Forgetting – 12/16 marker content
Basic idea of interference:
Occurs when one set of information competes with another causing it to be overwritten or physically destroyed.
Proactive interference:
When old information affects learning and retention of new information
e.g., applying old phone’s system to new phone.
Retroactive interference:
When new information affects retention of old information
e.g., changing phone numbers – new phone number replaces old
Effect of similarity:
Interference is most likely when 2 lots of information are similar
Postman Study (example of retroactive interference):
Method:
Two groups learn a list of paired words (e.g., cat-tree, jelly-moss)
Experimental group learnt another list of words where the second paired word was different (e.g., cat-glass, jelly-tree)
Findings:
Recall of first list was higher in control group than experimental group
Conclusion:
Shows retroactive interference – new information affects learning and retention of old information
Basic idea of interference:
Occurs when one set of information competes with another causing it to be overwritten or physically destroyed.
Proactive interference:
When old information affects learning and retention of new information
e.g., applying old phone’s system to new phone.
Retroactive interference:
When new information affects retention of old information
e.g., changing phone numbers – new phone number replaces old
Effect of similarity:
Interference is most likely when 2 lots of information are similar
Postman Study (example of retroactive interference):
Method:
Two groups learn a list of paired words (e.g., cat-tree, jelly-moss)
Experimental group learnt another list of words where the second paired word was different (e.g., cat-glass, jelly-tree)
Findings:
Recall of first list was higher in control group than experimental group
Conclusion:
Shows retroactive interference – new information affects learning and retention of old information
