Human cognitive neuroscience seminar

Speaker: Erminia Fiorentino

Topic: Does cognitive load affect retroactive interference?

Abstract: Traditional theories focused on decaying as main reason of forgetting. However, memory research has extensively highlighted the role that interference plays in non-pathological forgetting. According to the notion of interference across different types of post-learning activities, recent studies showed that whatever occurs in a filled delay impairs the retrieval that follows it. Consequently, a wakeful rest (unfilled delay) appears to boost long-term memory in comparison to a period of cognitive stimulation (filled delay). We investigated whether the degree of mental exertion influences forgetting, since the resources available to consolidate recently formed memory traces may be limited. We manipulated the cognitive load of an interfering task by employing, during the retention intervals, an easy tone categorization task, a difficult tone categorization task and a rest phase (unfilled delay). Participants studied a list of 15 words for an immediate recall task, then they either performed the unrelated tone detection tasks or rested in a quiet and dark cubicle. The delay phases lasted 10 minutes each, and immediately after the delay they performed a delayed free recall task. Our results indicated that high cognitive load manipulation impairs delayed recall more than low cognitive load interfering task and rest do. In conclusion, when the interference is kept minimal (low cognitive load and rest) it does not impair memory traces previously acquired, however a highly demanding interfering task impairs memory.