Interference Theory

Some questions on interference theory

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  • Created by: emily_w
  • Created on: 15-01-15 10:27
What does interference theory suggest?
Information in the long term memory can become confused/combined with new information, which impedes the formation of memories
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What are the two types of interference?
Retroactive and proactive
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Who carried out the study to test interference theory?
McGeoch and McDonald (1931)
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In McGeoch and McDonald, what were the five lists participants had to learn one of?
Synonyms of the original list, antonyms of the original list, three-digit numbers, nonsense syllables, or unrelated words
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Define retroactive interference
Later learning interferes with earlier learning, New memories disrupt old ones.
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What was the procedure of McGeoch and McDonald (1931)?
Participants learnt a list of ten words. After resting for ten minutes OR learning one of five other lists, they then had to recall the original list.
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What was the conclusion of McDonald and McGeoch (1931), and what was the evidence for this conclusion?
Recall was lowest when information was the most similar to the original list, which proves that retroactive interference is real because new information has to compete for space with old memories it is similar to.
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Define proactive interference
Earlier learning interferes with present learning. Old memories disrupt new ones.
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What is an application of interference theory?
It can help students organise their studying. Chandler (1989) found that students have trouble recalling information if they study similar subjects after one another.
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What are the two main issues with interference theory?
It does not tell us anything about how forgetting actually works. It is not generalisable, because most studies of it have been lab experiments.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What are the two types of interference?

Back

Retroactive and proactive

Card 3

Front

Who carried out the study to test interference theory?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

In McGeoch and McDonald, what were the five lists participants had to learn one of?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Define retroactive interference

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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