Phenomenal Determination of Retroactive and Proactive Interference

Abstract

Simultaneous acquisition of two serial lists produced retroactive and proactive interference, so long as the lists were organized as one preceding the other. Such an organization was accomplished in a variety of circumstances, as in the case of placing one above the other with an item of a different color separating the lists. In this instance, the lists were clearly organized into top and bottom, with the top half coming before the bottom. Recall for the two tasks was assessed 10 min. and 24 hr. after original learning. The recall of the list perceived as coming last was significantly superior after a 10-min. delay (retroactive interference) but deteriorated with time so that the two equalized after 24 hr. (proactive interference). The fact that retroactive and proactive interference were produced in the absence of a temporal separation between original and interpolated learning indicates that these phenomena are probably the product of a dynamic interaction in memory rather than extinction occurring at the point of interpolation.