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Cognitive psychology of human memory (thesaurus)

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Concept information

process > cognitive process > memory process > retrieval > response competition

Preferred term

response competition  

Definition

  • Simultaneous activation of memories that compete as a response to a cue.

Broader concept

Related concepts

Entry terms

  • retrieval competition
  • trace competition

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • McGeoch, J. A. (1942). The psychology of human learning: An introduction. Longmans.

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Postman, L., & Underwood, B. J. (1973). Critical issues in interference theory. Memory & Cognition, 1(1), 19-40. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198064

    [Study type: literature review / Access: open]
  • • Webb, L. W. (1917). Transfer of training and retroaction: A comparative study. The Psychological Monographs, 24(3), 1-90. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093121

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Editorial note

  • Competition between memory traces is one of the processes invoked to explain forgetting, particularly that caused by retroactive interference. For example, participants learn a first list of A-B word pairs and then a second list of A-C words. Thus, the same words (A) are associated with different responses in the two lists (B and C). When the first list of word pairs is tested, by asking participants to recall the B responses associated with the A words, the acquired A-B and A-C associations compete. The more recent associations (A-C) are thought to block the older ones (A-B).

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-T8D54BTV-N

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RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD Created 12/4/17, last modified 3/23/23