Task-Related Proactive Interference and the Simultaneous Acquisition Retention Phenomenon

Abstract

Long-term retention of a list of words learned with other lists is enhanced relative to the retention of a list of words learned singly. The effect, simultaneous acquisition retention phenomenon (SARP), was thought to be dependent on experimental proactive interference (PI). To test this hypothesis, we employed two acquisition procedures for the learning of three PI lists and a critical list. Both PI learning and critical learning were either simultaneous or single-task. When critical learning was single-task, PI from other single-task learning was more detrimental to 24-hr retention of critical learning than was PI from simultaneous learning. However, when critical learning was simultaneous, PI from simultaneous learning was more detrimental to 24-hr retention than was PI from single-task learning. These results support the hypothesis that the detrimental effect of PI is task-related and that the similarity of the contexts in which potentially interfering and critical memories are established must be the cornerstone of any theory of forgetting.