Retroactive interference and facilitation: A test of transfer surfaces

The frontal planes of the Osgood's (1949) and Holding's (1976) proaction and retroaction surfaces suggest that functionally identical responses will produce facilitation of learning and recall, and at a point between functional identity and high similarity, facilitation will decline to interference. The Osgood surface predicts that interference will then slowly increase as similarity decreases towards response neutrality and then sharply rise to maximum interference as response similarity approaches that of antagonistic responses. The Holding surface suggests, however, that the change from facilitation to interference is a step function where maximal interference is achieved when responses are no longer functionally identical. Maximal interference is maintained as response similarity decreases. Using stimulus conditions which were held constant and responses which were varied in magnitude, the relationship between the similarity of responses and both retroactive facilitation and interference was examined. Nine groups of ten subjects learned (15 trials), and recalled (3 trials), a criterion movement of 35 cm on a linear slide apparatus. Interpolated between learning and recall, each group was given 15 trials of a movement which differed in degree of similarity to the criterion movement. Analysis of variance performed on the absolute errors of recall of the criterion movement revealed significant group effects, F(8, 81) = 2.20, p < 0.05. Facilitation dropped sharply to maximal interference when the similarity between the interpolated and criterion responses exceeded functional identity. Interference did not remain maximal as response similarity decreased, however, but rapidly declined to facilitation. The substantial learning enhancement observed with larger interpolated responses was suggested as resulting from changes in the adaptation level that were induced by the interpolated movements. Retroactive interference was discussed in terms of Newell and Barclay's (1982) perspective of hierarchical schemata representation of movement.     

Retroactive interference and mental practice effects on motor performance: a pilot study

This study examined the effect of similar versus dissimilar retroactive interference on the mental practice effects for performing a novel motor skill. Research has shown that mental practice of a motor task can interfere with learning and performance of the task; however, little is known about how different retroactive interference activities affect mental practice effects. 90 volunteers ages 18 to 51 years (M=26.8, SD=9.6) completed a pre-test and post-test of 10 sets of five trials of a throwing task with the non-preferred hand. In the practice phase, participants mentally practiced the throwing task and then mentally practiced a task that was similar, dissimilar, or completed an unrelated reading task. Performance for all groups improved from pre- to post-test; however, there were no differences in increases for the three groups. The findings suggest that mental practice of similar and dissimilar tasks produced no significant interference in performance.     

Retroactive interference effects in implicit memory

One source of evidence for separate explicit and implicit memory systems is that explicit but not implicit memory is impacted by interference (e.g., Graf & Schacter, 1987). The present experiment examined whether retroactive interference (RI) effects could be obtained in implicit memory when a strong test of RI was used. People studied an original list of word pairs (e.g., COTTON-PRIZE) using the typical RI paradigm. During the interpolated phase, participants studied either interference pairs for which the same cue was re-paired with a different target (e.g., COTTON-PRINT) or novel pairs (e.g., HOST-VASE). RI was tested with the modified opposition cued recall test (Eakin, Schreiber, & Sergent-Marshall, 2003). The original-list cue was presented along with the beginning stem of its target (e.g., COTTON-PRI-) and a hint (e.g., not PRINT). RI effects were obtained for explicit and implicit memory. Taken together with prior research finding proactive interference effects in implicit memory, the findings indicate that implicit memory is not immune from retroactive interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Retroactive interference in single-cue probability learning

Abstract.— When two single-cue probability learning tasks with different amounts of unpredictable variance were learned in succession. a low variance task interfered with the retention of a high variance task, but the opposite was not true. The effects were positive in that they enabled the subjects to reach a higher response consistency and, thus, a higher level of achievement. It was suggested that the subjects made use of the low variance task to reject incorrect hypotheses about the cue-criterion relation and that interference from an interpolated task occurs only when this task provides information which has functional value for the subject.     

Retroactive interference in short-term memory and the word-length effect

Two experiments investigated the possibility that the word-length effect in short-term memory (STM) is a consequence of long words generating a greater level of retroactive interference than shorter words. In Experiment 1, six-word lists were auditorily presented under articulatory suppression for immediate serial reconstruction of only the first three words. These three words were always drawn from a single set of middle-length words, whereas the last three positions were occupied by either short or long interfering words. The results showed worse memory performance when the to-be-remembered words were followed by long words. In Experiment 2, a recent-probes task was used, in which recent negative probes matched a target word in trial n-2. The results showed lower levels of proactive interference when trial n-1 involved long words instead of short words, suggesting that long words displaced previous STM content to a greater extent. By two different experimental approaches, therefore, this study shows that long words produce more retroactive interference than short words, supporting an interference-based account for the word-length effect.     

Associative facilitation and interference in the Stroop color-word task

It is difficult to name the color of a stimulus when the stimulus is a word naming a different color. When the word is congruent with the color in which it is written, color naming is much quicker. Similar results are also obtained when color-related words are used instead of color names. These results are taken as evidence for the operation of associative factors that could facilitate or impair performance in the color-word task.     

Retroactive interference in the retention of prose: A reconsideration and new evidence

The sensitivity of naturalistic prose material to retroactive interference (RI) was investigated in three experiments, with due consideration given to the conditions known to produce RI in non-prose material. In experiment 1, unrelated, related, and nearly identical (parapharase) prose passage conditions yielded a pattern of results very similar to those obtained with non-prose material, with only the related condition associated with significant amounts of RI. Based upon these results and a few simple assumptions, a classificatory scheme was developed within which predictions were made regarding RI in related prose material. Several such predictions were tested and confirmed in Experiments 2 and 3. It was concluded that the many previous failures to detect RI in the retention of prose may be attributed to factors other than any inherent insensitivity of the material itself, and that RI may be just as predictable in prose as it is non-prose material.     

Retroactive and proactive interference effects in dual learning of blissymbolics and manual sign

Nonspeech systems can be either aided or unaided. Each system possesses its unique learning and memory characteristics. One instructional strategy designed to give learners the advantages of both systems is dual instruction in aided and unaided communication. One problem with this approach, however, might be that of retroactive and proactive interference in learning and memory. The current experiment investigated whether dual instruction in Blissymbolics and manual (ASL) sign would lead to retroactive and proactive interference. Lists of sign/symbol referents in the two systems were taught, to nonhandicapped adults in a controlled setting. No effects of retroactive or proactive interference were found. Additionally, a proactive facilitation effect was found for immediate retention. Results are discussed in terms of the nature of the task, the learning memory attributes of the nonspeech systems, and the effects of sign/symbol translucency.     

Perceptual interference and facilitation with auditory imagery

It has been claimed both that (1) imagery selectivelyinterferes with perception (because images can be confused with similar stimuli) and that (2) imagery selectivelyfacilitates perception (because images recruit attention for similar stimuli). However, the evidence for these claims can be accounted for without postulating either image-caused confusions or attentional set. Interference could be caused by general and modality-specific capacity demands of imaging, and facilitation, by image-caused eye fixations. The experiment reported here simultaneously tested these two apparently conflicting claims about the effect of imagery on perception in a way that rules out these alternative explanations. Subjects participated in a two-alternative forced-choice auditory signal detection task in which the target signal was either the same frequency as an auditory image or a different frequency. The possible effects of confusion and attention were separated by varying the temporal relationship between the image and the observation intervals, since an image can only be confused with a simultaneous signal. We found selective facilitation (lower thresholds) for signals of the same frequency as the image relative to signals of a different frequency, implying attention recruitment; we found no selective interference, implying the absence of confusion. These results also imply that frequency information is represented in images in a form that can interact with perceptual representations.     

Associative priming in color naming: interference and facilitation

In Experiment 1, color-naming interference for target stimuli following associated primes was greater in a group making a lexical decision to the prime than in a group reading the prime silently. High-frequency targets were responded to more quickly than low-frequency targets. In Experiment 2, with subjects naming the prime, there was evidence of associative interference when the prime and the target were grouped temporally but not when the intertrial interval was comparable with the prime-target interval. Associative primes presented at a short (120-msec) prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony facilitated color naming in Experiment 3. Taken together, the results suggest that the effect of faster processing of the base word in a color-naming task is facilitatory and that color-naming priming interference arises when associative prime processing increases conflict between word and color responses by enhancing phonological or articulatory activation of the base word.     

Dynamics of facilitation and interference in cue-priming and Simon tasks

In examining the selective suppression of responses activated by task-irrelevant stimulus attributes, such as in spatial conflict tasks, two different approaches have pointed to similar conclusions. In one approach (involving cue-priming procedures), variations of the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between task-irrelevant cues and subsequent target stimuli disclosed that the cues elicit activation of the congruent response, but this activation is subsequently suppressed. In another approach, a series of studies with the Simon task led to the formulation of the activation-suppression hypothesis. Analysis of RT distributions (in particular delta plots) disclosed that the task-irrelevant stimulus location elicits activation of the spatially corresponding response, but this activation is subsequently suppressed. The strength or efficiency of selective response suppression is expressed in the slope of the delta plot. In the present study, we combined these two approaches and found that the effects of SOA manipulation and the results of the distributional analysis converged and were positively correlated, suggesting that they involve a common mechanism of response activation followed by the selective suppression of that activation.     

Prelexical facilitation and lexical interference in auditory word recognition.

Phonological priming effects were examined in an auditory single-word shadowing task. In 6 experiments, target items were preceded by auditorily or visually presented, phonologically similar, word or nonword primes. Results revealed facilitation in response time when a target was preceded by a word or nonword prime having the same initial phoneme when the prime was auditorily presented but not when it was visually presented. Second, modality-independent interference was observed when the phonological overlap between the prime and target increased from 1 to 3 phonemes for word primes but not for nonword primes. Taken together, these studies suggest that phonological information facilitates word recognition as a result of excitation at a prelexical level and increases response time as a result of competition at a lexical level. These processes are best characterized by connectionist models of word recognition.     

Motor interference and facilitation arising from observed movement kinematics

Previous studies demonstrate that observing the movements of others can interfere with concurrent movement execution. This interference effect is attributed to incongruence between the observed and executed movements. The study presented here examined different aspects of observed and executed movement congruency. Participants attempted to trace straight lines in the air using one of two movement tasks while observing an experimenter perform movements varied by their task and spatial congruency. The data revealed that kinematic aspects of the observed movements were incorporated into the observer's own movements. Observing the same kinematics led to interference or facilitation effects depending on whether the direction of the observed movement was congruent or incongruent with the movement the participant performed. These data suggest that low-level properties of observed movements can modulate participant performance.