ference. This can be either, retroactive interference: when something we have learnt interferes with something we have learnt previously. Or proactive interference: when one thing we have learnt interferes with the next one.When we forget things in our STM, it is usually caused by displacement. This is when information that is currently circulating in our STM has not been sufficiently processed to be able to pass onto our LTM and is therefore pushed out/or displaced by new incoming information. Psychologists have found however, that in practice it has been difficult to isolate of displacement from decay.The decay theory is where the information is forgotten because of the passage of time, rather than because of the displacement memory trace. The psychologists believe that some sort of structural change happens in the brain when a memory is laid down. It is clear to the psychologists that STM is a fragile store from which information is easily and quickly lost. The precise mechanism for forgetting information in STM is unclear, but it seems more than likely to be due to interference, displacement and decay, which all in some way have a role to play in it.We know that the memories we have transferred to LTM are relatively stable and long term. However, in LTM it is retrieval failure and interference that account for much of the forgetting. Retrieval failure occurs because the correct retrieval cues are not available. Interference, there are two types of interference in LTM; retroactive - occurs when new information interferes with the old information. Proactive - when an old memory trace disrupts new information.There seems to be little doubt that interference can cause forgetting. Recalling can be impaired both from prior learning, proactive interference and from later learni8ng, retroactive interference. In both cases however, the greater the similarity being used the greater the interference.Many of us believe that our memory automatic...
