Stepping back from 'persistence and relapse' to see the forest: Associative interference

Historically, there has been considerable interest in a large variety of forms of associative interference. However, various factors including interest in clinical application and perhaps recent funding priorities have resulted in a narrowed focus on one particular instance of interference, extinction, with relative neglect of other types of interference. We have been using the existing literature and conducting new experiments to determine whether there is a consistent set of rules governing the occurrence and persistence of two-phase associative interference across (a) proactive and retroactive interference, (b) cue and outcome interference, (c) the type of training in phase 1 (excitatory, inhibitory, or simple nonreinforcement), and (d) the type of training in phase 2 (excitatory, inhibitory, or simple nonreinforcement). Our hope is that a return to more general questions concerning associative interference might reveal broad truths concerning the nature of forgetting. Identifying global principles of associative interference may also help us better appreciate the nature of extinction, including how it can be enhanced and made more enduring, as well as how it can be minimized and made more fleeting.