title: The role of horizontal categorization in retroactive and proactive interference.
abstract: Four paired-associate experiments with a total N of 291 participants investigated the effects of horizontal categorization on retroactive and proactive interference. (Exclusively) horizontal categorization means that unique categorical relationships hold across the A-B and A-C stimulus-response pairs of successive word lists (e.g., fruit--pear, river--Thames, in list 1; and fruit--plum, river--Wolga, in list 2). Experiment 1 found no significant amounts of interference with this type of list organization. However, strong interference arose with the same materials when the categorical structure was destroyed in Experiment 2. A third experiment contrasted two alternative explanations for these results, and Experiment 4 replicated the effect of horizontal categorization (vs. no categorical relationship) in a within-participants design. The results of the four experiments largely fit with a response competition explanation proposed by Bower, Thompson-Schill, and Tulving (1994), adapted to the within-participants designs used here. Overall, the present findings add to a body of evidence demonstrating limits to retroactive and proactive interference.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeine Psychologie Universität Leipzig Seeburgstr. 14-20, D-04103 Leipzig Germany. blank@rz.uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blank
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning; D011334:Proactive Inhibition; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011931:Reactive Inhibition; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology