1) In psychology: mutual suppression of simultaneously performed processes (primarily related to the cognitive sphere), due to the limited amount of distributed attention.
2) In pedagogy: deterioration of the retention of memorized material as a result of the impact (superimposition) of other material with which the subject operates. It is studied in the context of the study of memory and learning processes in connection with the problem of skill. The interfering effect of one material on another is manifested either in a decrease in the volume and deterioration of the quality of the reproduced material, or in an increase in the time for solving the problem (in the case of selective interference). The concept of interference is the basis of a number of psychological theories of forgetting. Depending on the sequence of the memorized and interfering material, retroactive and proactive interference are distinguished:
– proactive interference is a phenomenon of mnemic activity, consisting in a deterioration in the retention of the memorized material under the influence of previously memorized (interfering) material, increases with an increase in the degree of memorization of the interfering material and an increase in its volume, as well as with an increase in the degree of similarity of the memorized material and interfering material;
– retroactive interference – deterioration in the retention of memorized material caused by memorization or operation with subsequent (interfering) material, its relative value decreases as a stable criterion of assimilation of the initial material is reached, increases as the similarity of the memorized and interfering material increases, and reaches a maximum when they coincide.