The theory that forgetting occurs because other memories interfere with the retrieval of target memories. This interference can happen when new learning disrupts old memories or when old memories interfere with new learning.
From Latin 'inter-' meaning 'between' and 'ferire' meaning 'to strike,' literally meaning 'to strike between.' The psychological application developed in the early 1900s as researchers discovered that memory loss often resulted from competing information rather than simple time passage.
Your brain is like a crowded parking lot where similar memories compete for the same spaces - this is why you might call your new teacher by your old teacher's name, even though you remember both perfectly well!
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