Proactive interference in sentence recall: Topic-similarity effects and individual differences

The effect of topic similarity on proactive interference in sentence recall was investigated in two experiments using the Brown-Peterson paradigm. In Experiment 1, successive sentences about the same topic and related topics were both associated with substantial and progressive amounts of proactive interference; however, a significant trials × condition interaction indicated that the effect was stronger in the related-topics condition. Moreover, significant negative correlations were found between individual differences in susceptibility to proactive interference and academic achievement test scores. In Experiment 2, relatively weak effects leveling off on the second trial were obtained with sentences about unrelated topics. With some assumptions about the spread of activation during retrieval, the results were attributed to response-set interference. The practical implications of these data were also considered, and it was suggested that proactive interference might be a common cause of learning problems.