Does retroactive inhibition influence contextual interference effects?

Abstract

Two unique methodological strategies were used to investigate the influence of retroactive inhibition on recall within a contextual interference paradigm. Three independent blocked groups, blocked without retroactive inhibition (BL-without), blocked with 18 trials of retroactive inhibition (BL-18), and blocked with 36 trials of retroactive inhibition (BL-36), were created that varied in order of presentation of tasks. By testing a single task in retention and creating three independent blocked groups, varying amounts of retroactive inhibition were produced. This isolated the effects of retroactive inhibition on blocked compared to control and random subjects' retention. The Acquisition Group x Retention Trials interaction indicated that random and BL-without subjects had shorter reaction time than BL-18 and BL-36 subjects. Thus, blocked subjects with retroactive inhibition exhibited a retention deficit compared to BL-without subjects. The results support previous contextual interference findings and suggest that retroactive inhibition influences the retention deficits demonstrated by blocked compared to random subjects in typical contextual interference investigations.