Gender differences in proactive, retroactive, and no interference conditions

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether interference generates differential recall for men and women. Seventy-two (72) college students (36 men and 36 women; Mean age = 22.06 and 21.64 years respectively) studied lists of paired associate words and later completed a recall task. The result showed that interference generates differential recall for men and women, with women showing superior recall ability under the interference conditions. The result was interpreted in terms of showing support for the lateralization hypothesis. The second objective was to determine whether the ability to retrieve information from memory was worst under the proactive interference or retroactive interference conditions. Gender was collapsed over the two interference conditions and an AB – AD design was used to create interference in the experimental conditions. The result indicated that memory was worst under the proactive interference condition. The finding suggests that learned later disrupted recall of information that was studied previously more than vice versa. The paper concludes by providing some skills on how students can be more strategic about controlling their attentional capacities to reduce interference.