2.1.12

Studies on Interference

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Study on Retroactive Interference

Underwood and Postman (1960) investigated how retroactive interference affects learning. In other words, does new learning affect your ability to recall previously learnt information?

Procedure

Procedure

  • A laboratory experiment with two groups of participants (control and experimental groups).
  • Both groups were given word pairs to learn e.g. dog-bread, chair-fork etc.
  • The experimental group was also given a second list to learn where the second word in the pair was changed e.g. dog-cake, chair-window etc. Both groups were then asked to recall the original list.
Results and conclusion

Results and conclusion

  • Result: The recall of the control group was much better than the experimental group.
  • Conclusion: The experimental group’s recall had been affected by retroactive interference.
Evaluation

Evaluation

  • Strengths
    • Reliable – easy to replicate.
    • Practical applications for education, in particular revision.
  • Limitations
    • Lacks ecological validity – not how we use memory in everyday life.
    • The results could be explained by the limited capacity of STM rather than retroactive interference.
    • Interference only really explains forgetting when two pieces of information are really similar.

Study on Proactive Interference

Underwood (1957) investigated how proactive interference affects memory. In other words, do old memories affect your ability to recall new information?

Procedure

Procedure

  • A laboratory experiment.
  • Participants were given a list of nonsense syllables to remember and tested 24 hours later.
Results

Results

  • Memory was much worse for these nonsense syllables than Underwood expected.
Conclusion

Conclusion

  • Underwood concluded that the students’ experience of taking part in memory experiments in the past (even though none involved nonsense syllables) was causing confusion and led to proactive interference.
Evaluation

Evaluation

  • Strengths
    • Reliable – easy to replicate
    • Practical application for education, in particular revision.
  • Limitations
    • Lacks ecological validity – not how we use memory in everyday life.
    • Interference only really explains forgetting when two pieces of information are really similar.
Jump to other topics
1

Social Influence

2

Memory

3

Attachment

4

(2026 Exams) Psychopathology

5

(2027 Exams) Clinical Psychology & Mental Health

6

Approaches in Psychology

7

Biopsychology

8

Research Methods

8.1

Research Methods

8.2

Scientific Processes

8.3

Data Handling & Analysis

8.4

Inferential Testing

9

Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

10

Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10.1

Relationships: Sexual Relationships (A2 only)

10.2

Relationships: Romantic Relationships (A2 only)

10.3

(2026 Exams) Relationships: Virtual (A2 only)

10.4

(2027 Exams) Relationships: Online (A2 only)

11

Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

12

Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

13

Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

14

Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

15

Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

16

Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

17

Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

18

Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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