Investigations into Learning and Forgetting Contd

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Investigations into Learning and
ForgettingContd

• The Associationist Approach
• To Memory Research
• (1885 to the Cognitive Revolution - around 1960)

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Where We Left Off
How Does Interference Cause Forgetting? The
Response Competition Hypothesis is WRONG Maybe
forgetting is just the opposite of learning?
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The Unlearning Hypothesis Melton and Irwin (1940)
Retroactive Interference List 1 JEP-BIP List
2 JEP-RUL Test JEP-? Correct Response is
BIP Learning JEP-RUL might weaken the JEP-BIP
association
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A Test of The Unlearning Hypothesis
Barnes and Underwood (1959) List 1 A-B (to
Perfection) List 2 A-D (1, 5, 10, or 20
Times) Test A-? Report both B and D
responses For example, List 1 KIP-TEK (Until
Learned) List 2 KIP-POJ (1, 5, 10, or 20
Times) Test KIP-? Report both TEK and POJ
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Evidence for the Unlearning Hypothesis
RED LINE List 1 Responses BLUE LINE List
2 Responses
Likelihood Of Report
1 5 10 20
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Evidence for the Unlearning Hypothesis
Conclusions As List 2 responses ?, List 1
responses ? Therefore, Strengthening List 2
Associations weakens List 1 Associations?
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Evidence Against the Unlearning Hypothesis
Postman and Stark (1968) List 1 A-B (to
Perfection) List 2 A-D (1, 5, 10, or 20
Times) Test Was A presented with B, E, or
F? and Was A presented with D, G, or H?
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Evidence Against the Unlearning Hypothesis
Postman and Stark (1968) List 1 KIP-TEK (to
Perfection) List 2 KIP-POJ (1, 5, 10, or 20
Times) Test Was KIP presented with TEK, HIF, or
LOC? and Was KIP presented with POJ, RIN, or WOX?
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Evidence Against the Unlearning Hypothesis
RED LINE List 1 Responses BLUE LINE List
2 Responses
Likelihood Of Correct Response
1 5 10 20
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Evidence Against the Unlearning Hypothesis
Conclusions As List 2 Practice ?, Recognition
of List 1 responses is UNAFFECTED Therefore, Lis
t 1 Associations are NOT weakened by
strengthening List 2 associations
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How Does InterferenceCause Forgetting?
The Response Competition Hypothesis is
WRONG Associations are not Unlearned
because people recognize them if they are
presented Maybe List 1 Responses are SUPPRESSED?
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The Response Set Suppression Hypothesis
Postman, Stark, and Fraser (1968) The List 1
Associations are NOT weakened by learning List 2
Associations List 1 RESPONSES are suppressed
by learning List 2 Associations (due to greater
recency of learning)
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Evidence for The Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
Postman, Stark, and Fraser (1968) List 1 A-B
(e.g., JEP-WOP) to Perfection List 2 A-D (e.g.,
JEP-SOV) to Perfection Group 1 Test List 1
Recall A? (JEP?) Correct response is B (or
WOP) Group 2 Test List 2 Recall A? (JEP?)
Correct response is D (or SOV)
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Evidence for The Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
Postman, Stark, and Fraser (1968) Both groups
tested 20 Minutes and 48 Hours after learning
the lists
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Evidence for The Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
BLUE LINE List 1 Recall Group RED LINE List
2 Recall Group
Likelihood Of Correct Response
20 min 48 hrs
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Evidence for The Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
Results 1. List 1 responses were impaired when
List 2 was learned relatively recently 2. List
1 responses were not impaired when List 2 was
much less recent Conclusions Recency of
learning List 2 suppresses List 1 responses?
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An Alternative to the Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
A Distinctiveness Hypothesis (Underwood Freund,
1968) Interference occurs because, due to their
similarity, people cannot separately access A-B
and A-D pairings
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An Alternative to the Response Set Suppression
Hypothesis
A Distinctiveness Hypothesis (Underwood Freund,
1968) Prediction Interference should be less if
learning of A-B pairings is made DISTINCT from
learning of A-D pairings
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Underwood Freund, 1968
Group 1 List 1 A-B (e.g., JEP-WOP) 32
Times and then on SAME DAY List 2 A-D (e.g.,
JEP-SOV) to Perfection Group 2 List 1 A-B
(e.g., JEP-WOP) 32 Times and then THREE DAYS
LATER List 2 A-D (e.g., JEP-SOV) to Perfection
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Underwood Freund, 1968
Test for Both Groups (1 hour delay after List
2) List 2 Response Required A? (JEP?) Correct
response is D (or SOV) Will separating the Lists
in time lead to less Proactive Interference?
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Evidence for the Distinctiveness Hypothesis
Likelihood Of List 2 Response
Same 4 Day Days
Time Between List 1 and List 2
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Evidence for The Distinctiveness Hypothesis
Results Interference is much reduced if time
separates learning List 1 and List
2 Conclusion Interference occurs because
experiences are hard to distinguish from one
another
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Postman and Gray (1967)
Group 1 List 1 A-B (e.g., JEP-WOP) To
Perfection List 2 A-D (e.g., JEP-SOV) - To
Perfection Group 2 List 1 A-B (e.g., JEP-WOP)
To Perfection List 2 A-D (e.g., JEP-SOV) - To
Perfection AND While learning List 2 report List
1 responses
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More Evidence for the Distinctiveness Hypothesis
Postman and Gray (1967) Test For Both
Groups (One Week Later) List 2 Response
Required A? (JEP?) Correct response is D (or SOV)
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More Evidence for the Distinctiveness Hypothesis
Likelihood Of List 2 Response
Group Group 1
2
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How to Achieve Distinctiveness?

• What We Know
• Distinctiveness increases as the time between
  learning two similar associations is increased
  (Underwood Freund, 1968)
• Distinctiveness increases if people think about
  two similar associations simultaneously (Postm
  an Gray, 1967)
• CONTRADICTION?

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How to Achieve Distinctiveness?

• The Underlying Principle
• Encoding Variability
• (Martin, 1971)
• Thinking about the same stimulus differently
• will create distinctive representations in memory

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How to Achieve Distinctiveness?

The Underlying Principle Encoding
Variability (Martin, 1971) List 1 A-B (e.g.,
JEP-WOP) - To Perfection List 2 A-D (e.g.,
JEP-SOV) - To Perfection How to prevent
interference between JEP-WOP and JEP-SOV?
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How to Achieve Distinctiveness?

The Underlying Principle Encoding
Variability (Martin, 1971) List 1 A-B (e.g.,
JEP-WOP) - To Perfection List 2 A-D (e.g.,
JEP-SOV) - To Perfection Think of JEP as meaning
something different When it is paired with WOP
than with SOV
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An Example of Distinctiveness through Encoding
Variability

Two Associations BANK VIOLIN BANK LAMP How
to avoid interference? (RIVER) BANK
VIOLIN (MONEY) BANK - LAMP
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An Example of Distinctiveness through Encoding
Variability

Two Associations JEP WOP JEP SOV How to
avoid interference? (JEOPARDY?) JEP WOP (JEEP?)
JEP - SOV
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General Conclusions

• Failure of recall (or forgetting) does not mean
  that learned information has been lost.
• -Interference has minimal effect on being able
  to recognize responses that people have
  difficulty recalling.
• Forgetting is caused by the failure to access
  learned information.
• Accessing information in memory depends on its
  distinctiveness.
• -Similarity to other information in memory
  blocks access to target information