1 - Interference and inhibition in cognition: An historical perspective

Abstract

This chapter presents a historical perspective on interference and inhibition in cognition. It provides potentially revolutionary nature of modern work on interference and inhibition in cognition. Research on interference and inhibition is divided into the classical period, the neoclassical period, and the modern period. The classical period began in the late-nineteenth century and ended in the mid-1960s. It was during this period that the verbal learning tradition dominated the study of learning and memory. The defining characteristic of the neoclassical period or transition period is an approach that is part classical interference theory and part cognitive theory. The characteristic of the modern period is that it makes only a passing reference to the classical interference theory, tending instead to conceptualize interference and inhibition in purely cognitive terms.