1. Please sit where your name is
A Toby Izzy Emma Amelia B Macie Mia Tom Sophie Dixon C
Sam
Sophie Penfold
Molly
Bailey D
Joshua
Katie
Rob
Rhiannon E
Bethany
Lydia
Steph
Lucy F
Tasher
Lisa
Sarah
Phoebe
Seating: based on English GCSE (group A)

3. Forgetting
Interference theory

4. Objectives By the end of the lesson…
Understand
(A01)
To describe interference theory of forgetting.
Apply
(A02)
Apply your knowledge to exam questions (Practice)
Challenge: To explain real life examples of interference theory.
Analyse
To compare and contrast different types of interference.
Evaluate
(A03)
To discuss strengths, weaknesses and evidence of interference theory of forgetting.

5. What is Interference? Make notes on the following….
The Multi-store model of memory states that LTM has an unlimited capacity, and memories have a duration of potentially a lifetime.
However, we know by experience that we forget information stored in the LTM.
Failure to retrieve information (availability)
Failure to access stored information (accessibility)

6. Interference theory
Interference theory states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with and disrupt one another, in other words forgetting occurs because of interference from other memories (Baddeley, 1999). 
There are two ways in which interference can cause forgetting.
Information in LTM becoming confused and disrupted by other information during coding, leading to inaccurate recall

7. What is Interference?

8. Task 1: worksheet
Think of why we forget in these situations. Write next to each one if you believe that it is an example of proactive, retroactive interference or another type of forgetting

9. Task 1
Activity 1
a) You are watching the TV in the sitting room. You want to get a coffee from the kitchen. You walk in, put the kettle on. But subsequently, your phone rings and it’s your best mate. You go into your bedroom for a chat which lasts more than 20 minutes. After the phone call ends, you return to the sitting room and continue watching the TV, you forget all about the coffee.
The phone call has interrupted you whilst making a coffee. Whilst you talk to your friend, this new information interferes with the older information of ‘making a coffee’. So when you go back to the sitting room, you have forgotten about the coffee.

10. Task 1
Activity 1
b) You are in a new relationship and you take your partner to a café for some lunch. As you ask them what they would like to eat, you accidently call them by your ex-partner’s name. Your new partner gets angry and leaves the restaurant.
Your new partner is unhappy, is this a little unfair? In this instance, old information has interfered with new information, and is common in causes of forgetting. It does not mean you think more of your ex…… apparantly!

11. Task 1
Activity 1
c) You are in your French exam, trying to remember the past participle of a particular verb, but all you can recall is the equivalent verb in Spanish, which you learned as a child when your family lived in Costa Rica for a year. Frustrating, but this kind of thing has happened to most of us. Again, information previously learned has interfered with new information, causing the confusion

12. Task 1
Activity 1
d) You have a facebook password and a gmail password, but they are different. You had your gmail account first and your facebook account a little later. Last night, when trying to remember your gmail password, all you can remember is the facebook password.
In this instance, we still have forgetting due to interference, but here it is the new information learned which is interfering with the recall of the old information

13. Task 1
Activity 1
d) You have a facebook password and a gmail password, but they are different. You had your gmail account first and your facebook account a little later. Last night, when trying to remember your gmail password, all you can remember is the facebook password.
In this instance, we still have forgetting due to interference, but here it is the new information learned which is interfering with the recall of the old information

14. Task 1
Activity 1
e) Doug is a university student who is planning to become a teacher. So he does some work experience at his old primary school, a place he hadn’t been anywhere near in almost ten years. But as soon as Doug stepped through the doors, long-forgotten memories of primary school days became flooding back to him.
In this instance, Doug remembered his time at primary school because the context (stepping inside the school) acted as an external cue in helping Doug to retrieve memories of school

15. (stretch and challenge)
Confident so far?
Understand
If you are still feeling unsure…
Complete task 2: the knowledge questions on Proactive/Retroactive interference
Apply
(All)
Complete task 3: Read the three sets of evidence on your worksheet.
Underwood & Postman
Schmidt
Extension: Baddeley & Hitch
Write a conclusion for each study, explaining what it suggests about interference theory and why.
Evaluate
(stretch and challenge)
Evaluate the research using terms such as; artificial, ecological validity, control, replicability and practical application
Answer the exam question (task 4)

16. Task 3: conclusion
1. As the participants made more errors as the more lists they had to remember, this shows that the old information was interfering with the newly learned information, which is what proactive interference would predict.
2.This demonstrates that retroactive interference plays a role in forgetting because the new information interferes with the old information
3. This shows that information about the teams played was competing for recall

17. In your groups you should answer the following question:
Evaluate interference as a form of forgetting (5)
First write down as many points as you can individually
Then go round the group discussing your points
Decay or interference?
This box is for your final answer to the question. Ensure you have all contributed to this.
(P) These explanations tend to focus on what happens when we forget information that is similar
(E) It fails to explain how forgetting information, skills or other information happens in the majority of real life settings, where we are not juggling with similar material but still manage to forget a lot of what we experience
(S) the explanations may be able to tell us how interference affects our memories in artificial situations, but they do not explain most cases of forgetting in real-life.
Applications:
(P) Theories of forgetting have a number of important applications
(E) These explanations can inform educators about the best way for students to learn information. It may be prudent when revising for exams, that students do not revise similar topics next to each other, as this is likely to interfere with recall of the information. McGeoch and McDonald (1931) showed that people would make far more errors if they had to recall an original list after learning a new list of synonyms than if they had only the original list to learn.
(S) This make the explanations valuable to society as they help with educational methods, revision techniques and therefore aid learning
Laboratory Experiments
Practical applications
Research support

18. Evaluate
1) Most of the studies supporting this theory come from laboratory experiments. Why is that a limitation?
2) However this can also be a strength. Explain
3) Does it take into account the nature of the material to be remembered?
4) Baddeley (1990) states that the tasks given to participants are too close to each other. What happens in real life? Give an example.
5) The research does not investigate whether the information has “disappeared” or can be recovered later. Why is that a limitation?

19. Exam focus on Forgetting
With reference to research, describe interference as an explanation of forgetting (6)

20. Interference can be proactive or retroactive
Interference can be proactive or retroactive. Proactive is when old memories interfere with new memories and retroactive is when new memories interfere with old. An example is moving house and learning a new postcode but forgetting your old postcode. This is an example of retroactive interference. A good thing about this explanation is that there is research to support the explanation, such as Baddeley and Hitch. This type of interference can also explain why when you are revising two similar subjects such as sociology and psychology you may get information mixed up.
Interference is when information in the LTM is disrupted by other information. Proactive interference is where old information disrupts new information and retroactive is when new information disrupts old information. An example of this could be moving house and learning a new postcode but then being asked for your old postcode and forgetting it. This is an example of retroactive interference. Research in this area has found that if participants are asked to learn a list of word pairs they can recall it well. However, when they are given two lists to learn and then asked to recall the first list they will get the two lists mixed up. This shows that the later list disrupts the recall for the earlier list and is an example of retroactive interference.

21. Mark scheme
1-2 marks – Interference has been briefly outlined but there is limited description and no reference to research
3-4 marks – Interference is described but the answer is slightly muddled. There is reference to relevant research but this lacks detail.
5-6 marks – Interference has been clearly identified and described in detail. There is reference to relevant research and this has been linked to the explanation.

22. Exam focus Read the item and then answer the question that follows.
Martin is studying for his modern language exams. He revises French followed by Spanish on the same night and then gets confused between the two: for example, he remembers the French word for ‘chair’ instead of the Spanish word for ‘chair’. Sometimes, his mum helps to test Martin’s vocabulary. When he is unable to remember a word, his mum tells him the first letter, then he can often recall it correctly.
Discuss two explanations for forgetting. Refer to Martin’s experiences in your answer.
(Total 12 marks)

23. Track your learning
Find out…… Why is it better to take a test underwater if you revised for the test underwater?