The reduction in performance that occurs when a critical task-relevant process or REPRESENTATION is disrupted or displaced by another of a similar type. Interference can also refer to the underlying processes responsible for this disruption or displacement. Interference between processes can occur when tasks compete for processing resources that are too limited to support both tasks simultaneously (see ATTENTION). The degree of interference between tasks can be used as a technique for determining whether these tasks involve similar processes (as in, for example, the selective interference paradigm). Interference between representations is a major determinant of FORGETTING in both SHORT-TERM MEMORY (see also WORKING MEMORY) and LONG-TERM MEMORY. The degree of interference between representations is determined by similarity. Items that are conceptually or perceptually similar (though not identical) are more likely to interfere with each other than items that are dissimilar.
Three subtypes of interference in memory are RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE, or forgetting resulting from activities occurring after information is learned (but before retention is tested); PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE, or forgetting of information resulting from activities occurring before LEARNING; and REPRODUCTIVE INTERFERENCE, which is the term given to the inability to reproduce previously learned material caused by learning other material.
In long-term memory, the likelihood that interference will occur in a retroactive or proactive direction is largely determined by the relative strengths of the competing memory traces (see ENGRAM). For example, after one has moved to a new residence, memory for the phone number of one’s previous residence can interfere with memory for the new phone number (proactive interference). Once the new phone number is well learned, however, it can interfere with the ability to remember the phone number from the previous residence (retroactive interference). Damage to the PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX renders an individual more susceptible to interference on many tasks. Any LESION in the FRONTAL LOBE can lead to increased distractibility, susceptibility to proactive interference, and PERSEVERATION to previously rewarded responses, as on a DELAYED ALTERNATION task or WISCONSIN CARD-SORT TEST. The increased susceptibility to interference of patients with frontal-lobe lesions has been interpreted as an impairment in inhibiting information that is not (or no longer) task-relevant (see Dempster [1992] for a developmental perspective on the role of the frontal lobes in inhibitory control).
Dempster F.N. (1992) The rise and fall of the inhibitory mechanism: toward a unified theory of cognitive development and aging. Developmental Review 12:45–75.
JENNIFER A.MANGELS
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