In which type of forgetting does information that you learned recently cause you to forget information that you learned at an earlier time?

Psychology

What are your choices?

The type of forgetting in which information that you learned recently causes you to forget information that you learned at an earlier time is known as retroactive interference. Retroactive interference occurs when newly acquired information interferes with the retrieval of previously learned information.

To understand how this interference happens, let's consider an example. Imagine you are learning two languages simultaneously - French and Spanish. At first, you are making great progress in learning French. However, as you start dedicating more time and effort to learning Spanish, you start to experience difficulty in recalling certain French words or phrases that you previously knew well. The new information you are learning in Spanish is causing interference with your ability to recall the French vocabulary.

To explain how to get to this answer, we can follow these steps:

1. Understand the concept: Retroactive interference is when new information disrupts the retrieval of old information.
2. Familiarize yourself with different types of forgetting: There are several types of forgetting, including proactive interference (old information interferes with new information) and retroactive interference (new information interferes with old information).
3. Connect the concept to the question: Given the scenario described, where recently learned information affects previously learned information, the type of forgetting being asked is retroactive interference.
4. Provide an example: Illustrating the concept with a real-life example, such as learning different languages simultaneously, helps clarify how retroactive interference can occur.
5. Summarize the explanation: Concisely restate the answer by mentioning that retroactive interference refers to the type of forgetting in which recently learned information causes forgetting of previously learned information.

By following these steps, you can not only identify the answer but also understand the underlying concept and explain it effectively.