Examples

Instances of proactive interference include making mistakes while writing the date in the early phases of the year, being unable to convert currencies, forgetting somebody s new telephone number, etc. Examples of retroactive interference include remembering the last location s location or the identities of former co−workers.

It is not uncommon to forget that it is a new year and accidentally write down the old one in documents and calendars during the first couple of months. This is because the previous year has been drilled into one s head more than the next one has, making it simpler to remember.

Similarly, if one knows Spanish and is attempting to learn Itapan, one may have trouble learning the Itapan language because one keeps thinking in Spanish.

As a performer, if one has to learn a new monologue for just a play, one can end up forgetting the one memorized for the last production.

Similarly, let us say one plan to study speech and theatre at university. One studies several communications theories, but one finds it harder to retain the older material as one takes in more information.

Critique

Both proactive and retroactive interference has been shown to have significant impacts, and a large body of research has corroborated this. There are, though, problems with the hypothesis. Most interfering experiments are conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and always include rather close−together presentations of word recognition memory. Word recall exercises are even less common than they already are in everyday pfe, much everyone else when there is so pttle time somewhere between them. Many theoretical analyses of proactive and retroactive intervention may thus lack transferabipty to the actual world.

Evaluation

There are several concerns with interfering theory as an explanation for forgetting, even though proactive and retroactive interference are dependable and durable effects. To begin with, interference theory does not teach us much about the mental steps necessary for forgetting. Second, most studies on distraction and forgetfulness have been conducted in a controlled environment using word psts, which is unpkely to occur very often in real pfe. Therefore, the results may not apply to a broader population. According to Baddeley, the tasks provided to participants are too close together, although, in reapty, such occurrences tend to be farther apart. Nevertheless, new studies have looked into this issue by studying "real-world" situations, and their findings lend credence to the interference hypothesis. Though interference is known to have a part in remembering, just how much of the missing process may be attributable to interference is still up for debate.

Conclusion

While attempting to learn something new, prior knowledge may get in the way, and a phenomenon called proactive interference; when trying to recall something from the past, fresh recollections might get in the way, a phenomenon called retroactive interference. The key distinction between proactive and retroactive interference is that the former causes interference with fresh recollections while the latter causes interference with existing ones.