• DOI:10.1037/0033-295X.95.4.434
• Corpus ID: 18611368

A model for interference and forgetting

@article{Mensink1988AMF,
  title={A model for interference and forgetting},
  author={Ger-Jan M Mensink and Jeroen G. W. Raaijmakers},
  journal={Psychological Review},
  year={1988},
  volume={95},
  pages={434-455}
}

• G. M. Mensink, J. Raaijmakers
• Published 1 October 1988
• Psychology
• Psychological Review

A new model for interference and forgetting is presented. The model is based on the Raaijmakers and Shiffrin search of associative memory (SAM) theory for retrieval from long-term memory. It includes a contextual fluctuation process that enables it to handle time-dependent changes in retrieval strengths. That is, the contextual retrieval strength is assumed to be proportional to the overlap between the contextual elements encoded in the memory trace and the elements active at the time of testing. It is shown that the model predicts a large number of phenomena from the classical interference literature. These include the basic results concerning retroactive inhibition, proactive inhibition, spontaneous recovery, independence of List 1 and List 2 recall, Osgood's transfer and retroaction surface, simple forgetting functions, the use of recognition measures, and the relation between response accuracy and response latency. It is shown that these results can be explained by a model that does not incorporate an "unlearning" assumption, thus avoiding many of the difficulties that have plagued the traditional interference theories. In recent years, a number of memory models have been presented that successfully predict the major results concerning recall and recognition. Unfortunately, however, many of those models have not been applied in a systematic manner to the phenomena of interference and forgetting. This is especially regrettable since there exists a wealth of data, accumulated in the years when these topics were the main focus of memory research, that should not be disregarded by contemporary memory theories. In this article, we present a model intended to explain the basic findings concerning interference and forgetting, findings that have been shown in many experiments to be relatively robust and reliable. The model is based on the general search of associative memory (SAM) theory (Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981a) but incorporates a new model describing contextual fluctuation processes (Mensink & Raaijmakers, 1988). The SAM theory is a probabilistic cue-dependent search theory that describes retrieval processes in long-term memory. Retrieval is assumed to be mediated by retrieval cues, such as category names, words from a to-be-remembered list, contextual cues, etc. Sampling and recovery of sampled images (or memory traces) are the mechanisms that constitute the central features of the theory. As has been documented in previous papers