Differential development of retroactive and proactive interference during post-learning wakefulness

Newly encoded, labile memories are prone to disruption during post-learning wakefulness. Here we examine the contributions of retroactive and proactive interference to daytime forgetting on an auditory classification task in a songbird. While both types of interference impair performance, they do not develop concurrently. The retroactive interference of task-B on task-A developed during the learning of task-B, whereas the proactive interference of task-A on task-B emerged during subsequent waking retention. These different time courses indicate an asymmetry in the emergence of retroactive and proactive interference and suggest a mechanistic framework for how different types of interference between new memories develop.