Tag: retroactive interference

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Studying hard but forgetting fast? Interference might be at fault

By Danika Apostolovich

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why you might have studied hard for an upcoming history exam, making sure you focus on the dates, people involved, and what countries might be involved within a war, just to completely blank and forget all of the details about what you studied when the exam is given out? This is especially frustrating when you know you put in the effort to do well on the test. Let me tell you, in college this especially gets hard when you have to balance so many different things on a daily basis.

Well Did you happen to also study for that spanish test that you have the next period after? As it turns out, the material from studying for that spanish test wound up interfering with your ability to accurately remember what you studied for the history exam.

This post will dive deeper into interference theory, specifically retroactive and proactive interference. So that when you are about to go on to your first semester of college, you can know how to avoid this unfortunate circumstance of forgetting info and instead replace it with better study techniques!

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PORN! And how it can affect your GPA

By Emmalyn Paul

Introduction

It’s the moment of truth. You’re sitting in your seat, ready to open the test booklet for your first COLLEGE final exam. You’re sweating, breathing heavy, the end is NEARLY in sight. You hear “All I Want For Christmas is You” playing in the back of your mind as you take the FINAL leap before Christmas. You open the book and stress overwhelms you. You can’t seem to remember ANY of the questions on the first two pages. All you can remember is the information from the chapter you JUST finished last week. This, my friend, is the perfect example of retroactive interference (RI). This occurs when new information that you have recently learned makes it difficult to recall old information you have learned (1). Somehow you manage to push your way through. As you move from question to question the information starts to come back to you. You begin to remember all you studied from those first few chapters…so much so that when you get to the end of your test booklet, you find yourself having a difficult time recalling the chapters you just learned last week! WHAT?! How could this be possible?? Well, it is, and it’s a process that is called proactive interference (PI). This occurs when old information you have learned gives you difficulty remembering new information you have learned (1). In order to find ways to combat these interferences, you must first fully understand them and, most importantly, remember which is which. Well, all you little freshies with your mind in the gutter are in luck, because have I got an acronym for you! When in doubt, just think “PORN”: Proactive=Old, Retroactive=New. Continue reading “PORN! And how it can affect your GPA”