Effects of Interference in Memory Recall of Students
According to Merriam Webster, memory as “the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms”. This is also the “store of things learned and retained from an organism’s activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition.
” And recall is to bring back to mind or to remind. On the other hand, interference is an obstruction or something that produces confusion.
In an everyday life of students, memory, recall and interference play an important role in studying and also in other aspects of daily life events. Fernandes and Grady (2008), mentioned that in today’s world a person is in a situation where there is an attempt to remember things other than what is the on-going activity. An example, while a person is driving and talking to a passenger, a person tried to remember the directions to the friend’s house (Fernandes and Grady, 2008).
Fernandes and Grady (2008), cited that it is reasonable to look forward to the degree of memory interference that is experienced will depend on several factors including but not restricted to (1) the type of distraction, (2) the kind of memory task, and the (3) the characteristics of the person doing the remembering.
Age is supposed to be related with recall deficit resulting from a damage in common giving out resources significant for many cognitive operations
The participants were composed of 40 Experimental Psychology students from Ateneo de Naga University. There were two (2) classes which composed of nine (9) males and 31 females, where four (4) students are S. P. E. D.
majors and 36 are Psychology majors, ages ranging from 17 to 32. The participants were randomly assigned in two (2) groups. Material There were lists of 20 non-sense syllables which the students have to familiarize for 10 minutes. For the experimental group, the over head projector was used to show seven (7) transparent slides of colored pictures with positive descriptions for 10 minutes.
For the controlled group, subjects were instructed to stare on a blank white screen for 10 minutes.
Answer sheets were distributed. The participants were given two (2) minutes to recall and write. Design The experiment used two (2) Independent groups design because there were two (2) treatment conditions used. There was an experimental and a controlled group. The independent variables were with and without interference and the dependent variable was memory recall.
First, the experimenter distributed sheets of paper to the students.
The papers were flipped down and participants were instructed not to turn it up until it is told to do so. The experimenter asked the students to familiarize the 20 non-sense syllables for 10 minutes, the subjects were asked to pass the papers. Then, for the experimental groups, subjects were asked to view seven (7) transparent slides of colored pictures with positive descriptions for 10 minutes. For the controlled groups, subjects were asked to stare on a blank white screen for 10 minutes.
