Explanations for forgetting

Explanations for forgetting

1. Interference

   • Proactive interference
     • Old interferes with new
     • Works forward in time
     • e.g. teacher learnt many names in the past, cannot remember current class names
   • Retroactive interference
     • New interferes with old
     • Works backwards in time
     • e.g. memory of new car reg. prevents recall of old one
   • +/-
     • Artificial material use
       • Often uses word list- different from things remembered everyday
         • More realistic than consonant syllables use
         • Artificial material use could make interference more likely
     • Research support
       • Baddeley and Hitch- 1977
         • Asked rugby players to recall teams they have played in the seasons so far, week by week.
           • Accurate recall based on number of games played in meantime not how long ago match was
         • Shows interference in everyday situations
     • Interference can be overcome by cues
       • Tulving and Psotka- 1971
         • Given 5 lists of 24 words- organised into different categories (not explicit but obvious)
           • Recall 70% for 1st list, recall feel as additional lists learnt. When given cue recall test (names of categories) recall rose to 70%
     • Lab experiments
       • e.g. McGeoch and McDonald- 1931
       • Control extraneous variables- valid
         • Most lab studies show both types of interference are causes for forgetting
   • 2 pieces of info are in conflict
   • McGeoch and McDonald- 1931

2. Retrieval failure due to absence of cues

   • +/-

3. Forgetting occurs in LTM as cannot access memories even though they are avaliable