Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

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

Published on: July 16, 2015

13.6K

Familiarity influences on proactive interference in verbal memory.

Tom Mercer1

  • 1Centre for Psychological Research, School of Psychology, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK.

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|January 23, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

Interference and Decay01:16

Interference and Decay

107
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...
107
Implicit Memories01:24

Implicit Memories

93
Implicit memories, also known as non-declarative memories, are long-term memories that function outside of conscious awareness. These memories influence behavior and skills without explicit knowledge. This type of memory is evident in tasks like playing tennis, snowboarding, and texting. Implicit memory has three subsystems: procedural memory, conditioning, and priming. This type of memory is essential in various activities, from everyday tasks to specialized skills.
One key aspect of implicit...
93
Forgetting01:21

Forgetting

53
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...
53
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon01:10

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

101
The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon is a cognitive experience characterized by a temporary inability to retrieve specific information from memory despite having a strong feeling of knowing the information. Although individuals cannot access the target word or detail, they frequently recall related elements, such as its initial letter, syllable count, or context. This partial retrieval often causes frustration, as one might recognize a familiar face or know that a name starts with a specific...
101
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory01:14

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

355
The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the...
355
Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

320
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
320

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Slowing forgetting in visual working memory: Proactive facilitation in the repeated-unique paradigm.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2025
Same author

Rapid but incomplete degradation of residual visual representations over time.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2023
Same author

Magnitude and sources of proactive interference in visual memory.

Memory (Hove, England)·2022
Same journal

EXPRESS: Age-related Differences in Recognition Memory for Discourse: The Case of Modified Words, Competitors, and Related Lures.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
Same journal

EXPRESS: Exaggerated Self-Referencing in Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
Same journal

EXPRESS: Post-Error Adjustments: The role of Response Stimulus Intervals and error placement.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
Same journal

Mitigating the Low Prevalence Effect: Role of Removing Explicit "Target-Absent" Responses in Visual Search.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
Same journal

Visual Selection Is Spatially Constrained During Working Memory Consolidation.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
Same journal

Cross-Phoneme Generalisation of Dimension-Based Statistical Learning for Stop Voicing: Probing Subject Design and Word Frame Effects.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2026
See all related articles

Proactive interference in working memory is more complex than just recent memories. Familiarity from word meaning and repetition significantly impacts memory retrieval, not just how recent information is.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Proactive interference occurs when prior memories hinder new information processing.
  • Existing models often link this to recency, where recent items cause more disruption.
  • However, other familiarity aspects may also play a crucial role.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of different types of familiarity on proactive interference.
  • To explore how experimental and pre-experimental familiarity affect memory retrieval.
  • To examine the role of temporal familiarity in working memory tasks.

Main Methods:

  • A verbal recent-probes task was employed.
  • Participants performed trials involving target stimuli and probe matching.
Keywords:
Proactive interferencefamiliarityrecent-probes tasktimeverbal memory

More Related Videos

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
07:59

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

7.9K
Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception
05:48

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception

Published on: August 9, 2024

1.4K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 31, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

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

Published on: July 16, 2015

13.6K
Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
07:59

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

7.9K
Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception
05:48

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception

Published on: August 9, 2024

1.4K
  • Experimental (stimulus repetition) and pre-experimental (word vs. non-word) familiarity were manipulated.

    • Main Results:

    • Proactive interference was observed, with probes from recent trials causing more errors.
    • This interference varied based on stimulus type: strongest for repeated non-words, weakest for unique non-words.
    • Stimulus repetition had minimal effect on words, and temporal familiarity showed no significant impact.

    Conclusions:

    • Proactive interference is influenced by complex familiarity effects beyond mere recency.
    • Both experimental and pre-experimental stimulus familiarity are critical factors.
    • Understanding proactive interference requires integrating long-term memory influences into working memory models.