Developmental change in proactive interference.

The aim of the present research was to examine age-related change in proactive interference, which refers to impaired recall due to interference from material presented previously. Study 1 was a meta-analysis based on 26 studies that included 82 data sets. The results indicated that proactive interference decreased between 4 and 13 years of age. In Study 2, children from grades 3 through 6 and college students (N = 125) were administered a short-term memory task in which they briefly remembered sets of three words. For all ages, recall was accurate on Trial 1. However, recall became less accurate over Trials 2 through 4, particularly for the younger children in the sample. In addition, structural equation modeling revealed that age-related change in interference was linked to age-related change in speed of information processing. Results are discussed in terms of the nature of age-related change in interference.