Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Interference and Decay

Interference and Decay

Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...

Information Processing Approach

Information Processing Approach

The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is...

Forgetting

Forgetting

Forgetting is an intrinsic aspect of human memory, characterized by the gradual loss or inaccessibility of information over time. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, extensively studied this phenomenon and formulated the forgetting curve. This curve illustrates that memory loss occurs rapidly immediately after learning and then decelerates over time. Several mechanisms contribute to forgetting, including encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, and interference.
Encoding...

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology explores the changes and continuities in human abilities throughout life, encompassing physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social dimensions. Human development is not restricted to growth, but includes aspects of decline, particularly in physical abilities as individuals age. Developmental psychologists seek to understand how people change as they age and how their mental and social skills evolve.Developmental MilestonesA key concept in developmental psychology is...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A multidimensional-scaling study of images from diverse everyday-object categories.

Behavior research methods·2026

Same author

Recency is sufficient for reconciling categorisation and memory: Commentary on Devraj et al. (2024).

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2026

Same author

A global matching model of choice and response times in the Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott semantic and structural false recognition paradigms.

Psychological review·2025

Same author

Working memory shapes information sampling and attention allocation across development.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2025

Same author

Tests of a hybrid-similarity exemplar model of context-dependent memorability in a high-dimensional real-world category domain.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2025

Same author

A little imprecision goes a long way in launching memory development.

Child development perspectives·2025

Same journal

Boosting Media Literacy Using Lateral Reading and Online Search Interventions.

Psychological science·2026

Same journal

A Field Experiment Testing Whether Accountability Reduces Racial Gaps in Performance Evaluations.

Psychological science·2026

Same journal

Does Testosterone Affect Cognitive Reflection? Evidence From a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study of 1,000 Participants.

Psychological science·2026

Same journal

Does Overconfidence Really Confer Adaptive Benefits to Children's Learning?

Psychological science·2026

Same journal

How Does the Mind Grow? Cross-Cultural Intuitive Theories of Mental Development.

Psychological science·2026

Same journal

Not All Practice Is Created Equal: Longitudinal Evidence From Over 40,000 Chess Players.

Psychological science·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 7, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Sources of Interference in Memory Across Development.

Hyungwook Yim^1,2, Adam F Osth², Vladimir M Sloutsky³

¹Department of Cognitive Sciences, Hanyang University.

Psychological Science

|June 20, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Memory development shows that interference from list items decreases rapidly, while interference from past experiences decreases slowly but remains significant. This highlights distinct developmental timelines for item and context memory discrimination.

Keywords:

context noise episodic memory hierarchical Bayesian model interference memory development open data

More Related Videos

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Published on: June 14, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Sep 7, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Published on: June 14, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Neuroscience
Human Memory Research

Background:

Episodic memory, crucial for recalling events, includes remembering what, where, and when.
Multicomponent memory is susceptible to interference from prior experiences.
Developmental changes in interference sources and their impact on memory are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how interference sources in episodic memory change across development.
To identify developmental factors contributing to changes in memory interference.
To differentiate the developmental trajectories of item and source memory.

Main Methods:

Tested 4-5 year olds, 7-8 year olds, and adults on item- and source-recognition memory tasks.
Employed manipulations like list length, list strength, and word frequency.
Utilized a computational model to decompose and quantify sources of interference.

Main Results:

Interference from study list items decreased significantly with age.
Interference from pre-experimental contexts showed a gradual decrease but remained a primary interference source.
Computational modeling revealed rapid development in item discrimination and protracted development in context discrimination.

Conclusions:

Item discrimination abilities develop quickly during childhood.
Context discrimination abilities mature more slowly, extending into adulthood.
Understanding these distinct developmental paths is key to comprehending episodic memory formation.