Theories Of Interference Theory

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Another popular theory that explained forgetting is the Interference Theory. Most of the psychologists during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s like to use this theory to explain what causes forgetting. Interference Theory states that we forget something because memories interfere with or compete one another. (Baddeley, 1999) In other word, other information learned interferes with our ability to recall it. Interference can be divided into two types: interference by previous memory which known as Proactive Interference and interference by later learning which known as Retroactive Interference. Proactive Interference occurs when information that we learned previously interfere with newer information. When Proactive Interference occurs, we cannot …show more content…

The word ‘retro’ itself denotes the action directed backward. So retroactive interfere is when new information goes backward into the past in interference with retrieval of old information. In another word, retroactive interference is the difficulty for a person to recall back what had learned previously because of the newly learned information. Assume you learned to play tennis since a child and you just learned how to play racquetball recently. When somebody suddenly asks u go for tennis ball, it takes your mind to think about it. This is retroactive interference. Because the new knowledge of racquetball is going backward to take interfere with the retrieval of old knowledge of tennis. There are many more daily life example of retroactive interference. First, you may have difficulty skiing because of currently learning how to snowboard. (AlleyDog.com, 1998-2014) Second, students will forget content learned from the first topic in Psych after learning the content from second topic. Third, you may have difficulty remembering what happened at a sales meeting over a month ago because of information received (learned) at a more recent sales meeting. This retroactive interference occurs when newer information learned interferes with remembering previously learned information. (Psychology and Society, n. d) Fourth, pay raise given to workers in

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