Forgetting Module Map

Purpose  To demonstrate the effect of interference on memory.

Summary  The module opens with a demonstration of encoding failure produced by the presentation of irrelevant distractors. Then the concepts of proactive and retroactive interference are explained and illustrated in the case of a person studying both French and Spanish. Next the student learns a list of 20 word pairs and is tested for recall. The student then learns another list in which the second word of each original pair has been replaced by a different word with similar association value. After the recall test of this second list, the student is also tested for recall of the original word pairs. The student's performance on all three tests is graphed and interpreted. Generally, students do not perform as well on the second test as on the first, demonstrating proactive interference. In addition, memory for the first list will generally be poorer after the second list has been learned, thus demonstrating retroactive interference.

Introduction
Interference
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
Paired associates task
Some additional points
 		Summary
References


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